t 


CONFIDENTIAL 

. 

PROPAGANDA 


MILITARY  AND  LEGAL  ASPECTS 


Military  Intelligence  Branch 
Executive  Division 
General  Staff 
U.  S.  A. 


PROPAGANDA 


IN  ITS 


MILITARY  AND  LEGAL  ASPECTS 


Military  Intelligence  Branch 
Executive  Division 
General  Staff 
U.  S.  A. 


JUN 


OTBLL  LIBRARY 
BOSTON  COLLEGE 


0 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION  _  1 

Civil  Propaganda  _  1 

Military  Propaganda _  2 


CHAPTER  I,  PROPAGANDA  AGAINST  THE  ALLIES _  5 

Defensive  Propaganda  _  5 

Conquest  by  Propaganda,  the  Russian  Disaster _  6 

Panic  by  Propaganda,  the  Italian  Retreat _ _  7 

The  Technique  of  French  Propaganda _  15 

Co-operation  Inside  the  Lines:  “Defeatist”  Propaganda _  18 

Bolo  Pasha  and  the  Bonnet  Rouge _  19 


CHAPTER  II,  PROPAGANDA  AMONG  NEUTRAL  NATIONS _  25 

The  Central  Bureau  in  Spain -  26 

Mexico  _  35 

Spanish-America  _ - _  40 

“Disruption  Offensive”  Against  Japan -  43 

China  and  India _  44 

Turkey  _  4G 

Scandinavia  and  Holland _  49 

Switzerland  _ 52 

Ireland  _ , _  56 

Australia  _  59 


CHAPTER  III,  VARIOUS  FORMS  OF  PROPAGANDA _  62 

The  Continental  Times _ 62 

Peace  Offensives  _  63 

German  Propaganda  in  Germany _  66 

The  News  Agencies _  69 

Breaking  the  News  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces _  70 

Propaganda  by  Advertising  Monopolies _  71 

CHAPTER  IV,  GERMAN  PROPAGANDA  IN  AMERICA _  73 

The  Delbriick  Law _ 73 

The  German  Spy  System. _ ■ _  74 

The  Propaganda  Machine _  76 

The  German-American  Alliance _  79 

The  German  Lutheran  Church _  84 

The  Friends  of  German  Democracy _  86 

Influence  of  Propaganda  in  the  United  States _  87 

Propaganda  by  Newspapers _  88 

Propaganda  by  Books _  94 

Propaganda  by  Film  and  Drama _  96 

CHAPTER  V,  CO-OPERATING  AGENCIES _ 101 

Religious  Propaganda _ 101 

Conscientious  Objectors  and  “Divinity  Students” _ 103 

“The  Finished  Mystery” _ 104 

Philanthropic  Slackers  _ 109 

Propaganda  Among  the  Labor  Organizations _ 113 

Anarchist  Propaganda _ : _ 115 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS— Continued 


CHAPTER  VI,  PROPAGANDA  BY  DISSENSION - r  118 

Propaganda  Among  Friendly  Aliens -  119 

Propaganda  Among  the  Negroes -  120 

Propaganda  by  Rumor -  128 

Propaganda  by  Cartoon  and  Essay -  124 

Various  Lies:  The  Sweater  Story - 128 

Tracing  a  Rumor - 130 

Propaganda  by  Attacks  on  Morals - 133 

The  Attack  on  Red  Cross  Nurses -  133 

Propaganda  Concerning  Camp  Conditions _ _  136 

“The  One  Hundred  and  One  Lies” _ 136 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A _  138 

Propaganda  for  an  Imperfect  Peace _ 138 

CHAPTER  VII,  THE  ESPIONAGE  ACT _ 141 

CHAPTER  VIII  _ 150 

Legal  Recognition  of  Propaganda  as  a  Crime _ 150 

The  Overman  Bill  and  the  France  Amendment _ 150 

Resume  _ 178 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

• 

Cartoon  by  Orr _ _ _  182 

A  Page  from  the  Finished  Mystery _ 183 

A  Page  from  the  Vampire  of  the  Continent _  184 

Cover  of  an  Anti-American  Spanish  Book _ ' _ 185 

Post  Cards  Used  in  Spanish  Propaganda _ 186 

“The  Defenders  of  the  Weak” _ 187 

Fac-Similes. 

An  American  Peace  Sermon  Used  as  German  Propaganda _  A 

Reverse  Page  _  B 

Cheques  Used  in  the  Purchase  of  the  New  York  Mail _  C 

A  Double  Page  from  “Bull” _  D 

A  Russellite  Paper  _  E 

The  Continental  Times  (published  in  English  in  Germany) _  F 

The  Gazette  des  Ardennes  (published  in  French  in  Germany) _  G 

The  Gazette  des  Ardennes  (Illustrated  Edition) _  H 

Boletin  de  la  Guerra  (pro  German  Mexican  Paper) _  I 

“The  World  Enchained”  (pro  German  Spanish  Poster) _  J 

“Which  Are  the  Barbarians?”  (pro  German  Spanish  Poster) _  K 

Consequences  of  Refusing  Peace  (pro  German  Spanish  Poster) _  L 

Pro  Ally  Spanish  Propaganda _  M 

The  Kaiser  as  an  Angel  of  Peace _ _  N 

“The  Last  Hope” _  O 

“The  Come  Down  of  the  Yankee” _  P 


INTRODUCTION. 


CIVIL  PROPAGANDA. 

The  person  who  cries  “Fire  !”  in  a  crowded  auditorium,  or 
who  starts  a  false  alarm  resulting  in  a  panic  is  spreading  a  form 
of  propaganda.  The  results  of  his  act  may  be  such  as  to  lay  him 
liable  to  a  trial  for  murder. 

The  person  who  by  gossip,  innuendo  or  other  means  destroys 
the  credit  of  a  bank  and  starts  a  run  upon  it,  is  a  propagandist 
and  amenable  to  punishment. 

The  person  who  by  insinuation  or  backbiting  wrecks  the  good 
name  of  a  man  or  a  woman  is  wielding  the  same  powerful  and 
dangerous  weapon. 

The  collector  of  bad  debts  who  sends  his  duns  on  postal  cards 
or  on  envelopes  of  conspicuous  nature  is  carrying  out  a  form  of 
offensive  and  illegal  propaganda.  Equally  the  person  who,  bv 
false  representations,  distortions,  exaggerations,  or  suppressions  of 
the  truth,  booms  a  worthless  stock  with  intent  to  defraud,  is  a 
propagandist  against  public  and  private  welfare  and  comes  within 
reach  of  the  law. 

All  of  these  are  engaged  in  activities  to  which  the  word  “propa¬ 
ganda”  has  not  been  applied ;  yet  they  illustrate  it  perfectly.  There 
lias  been  no  question  of  legal  authority  for  the  punishment  of  these 
acts.  Propaganda  has  therefore  a  legal  status,  though  under  other 
names. 

If  propaganda  against  an  individual’s  reputation,  the  safety 
of  a  crowd  of  people  in  a  theatre,  the  prosperity  of  a  local  bank,  is 
dangerous  to  the  public  welfare,  by  so  much  the  more  is  it  danger¬ 
ous  when  it  attacks  the  honor  of  a  nation,  the  lives  of  its  soldiers, 
the  fate  of  its  armies  and  the  liberty  of  the  whole  people.  While 
few  persons  would  underestimate  the  viciousness  of  hostile  propa¬ 
ganda,  its  direct  military  importance  is  apt  to  be  overlooked. 

In  the  recent  trial  of  a  German- American  newspaper  editor 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Espionage  Act,  the  judge  ruled  that 
while  the  articles  cited  were  offensive  in  their  tone,  they  did  not 
constitute  a  violation  under  the  act  because  they  did  not  give  in¬ 
formation  of  military  value  to  the  enemy — as  if  the  only  way  to 
Help  the  enemy  were  to  inform  him !  It  needs  only  to  be  stated 
to  be  accepted  that  misinformation  cunningly  distributed  at  home 

l 


2  Propaganda 

may  be  as  useful  to  the  enemy  as  information  cleverly  conveyed  to 
him. 

The  Department  of  Justice,  which  has  become  so  powerful 
an  adjunct  of  the  military  establishment  in  this  war,  has  been 
embarrassed  in  some  of  its  prosecutions  by  a  lack  of  precedents 
among  judicial  decisions  to  settle  the  exact  legal  status  of  the  hostile 
propagandists  as  such.  There  seemed  to  be  nowhere  among  the 
charges  of  the  courts  any  reference  to  the  power  of  propaganda 
and  its  menace.  In  the  many  cases  in  which  it  has  been  involved, 
the  charges  of  the  judges  have  been  rather  technical  than  expository 
of  the  plain  truth  that  hostile  propaganda  is  an  act  and  a  method 
of  war. 

A  military  opinion  has  therefore  been  requested,  and  it  is  given 
herewith  in  the  hope  of  placing  the  matter  clearly  before  all  who 
may  be  interested,  especially  the  attorneys  who  must  prosecute  the 
cases;  and  of  showing  by  various  concrete  examples  how  direct  and 
vital  an  influence,  propaganda  has  upon  military  activity. 


MILITARY  PROPAGANDA. 


The  military  danger  of  propaganda  is  by  no  means  limited  to 
that  of  the  traitor  who  spreads  dissension  and  discouragement 
through  the  ranks,  or  the  coward  who  with  another  form  of  propa¬ 
ganda  starts  a  panic  by  throwing  down  his  rifle  and  screaming 
“We’re  lost !”  as  he  runs.  Propaganda  as  a  means  of  disabling  armies 
has  grown  with  the  size  of  armies  and  the  complexity  of  modern 
warfare. 

As  the  success  of  armies  depends  more  and  more  on  the  scale 
on  which  their  preparation,  equipment  and  reinforcement  are 
conducted  at  home,  so  the  enemy  in  seeking  to  destroy  the  base 
of  the  army,  attacks  the  army  at  that  distant  point  by  the  grand 
strategy  of  propaganda. 

The  giving  of  military  information  to  the  enemy  has  always 
been  recognized  as  a  capital  offense,  and  justly,  but  in  the  recent 
developments  of  civilization  and  the  military  arts,  the  propagan¬ 
dist  may  cause  far  greater  damage  to  the  army  than  any  spy  or 
group  of  spies.  The  spy  endangers  the  success  of  the  one  body 
of  troops  at  the  firing  line,  by  conveying  information  as  to  the 
plans,  numbers,  morale  or  disposition  of  the  troops.  But  the  propa¬ 
gandist  attacks  the  whole  army  at  its  base;  threatens  to  cut  it 
off  from  its  base,  to  stop  the  flow  of  reinforcements,  supplies,  am- 


Introduction 


3 


f 

munition,  equipment,  food,  comforts,  and  above  all,  to  weaken  the 
moral  support  that  sustains  the  troops  in  the  hardships  and  cruelties 
of  war  far  from  home. 

“Armies  fight  as  the  .  people  think,”  was  the  wise  epigram  of 
the  British  General  Applin.  It  might  be  extended  to  say  that 
armies  fight  as  armies  think,  for,  as  George  William  Curtis  said, 
“Thoughts  are  bullets.”  If  our  troops  in  France  were  convinced 
by  certain  active  propagandists  that  they  are  fighting  a  capitalist’s 
war,  and  enduring  privations  and  pouring  out  their  blood  to  pro¬ 
tect  the  investments  of  bankers,  they  would  not  fight  well,  and 
probably  would  not  fight  at  all. 

To  inculcate,  this  belief  among  our  soldiers  is  therefore  an 
experiment  which  the  enemies  of  our  soldiers  at  home  or  abroad 
may  well  make.  It  is  worthy  of  the  expenditure  of  great  funds 
and  toil,  for  its  success  would  wither  the  military  arm  of  our  nation 
without  costing  one  German  life  or  one  German  cartridge.  Even 
its  partial  success  has  the  value  of  a  destructive  bombardment. 
Therefore,  we  see  this  effort  made,  and  numberless  similar  efforts. 

To  convince  the  French  armies  and  people  that  American  troops 
are  brutal,  insolent,  contemptuous  and  destructive,  or  to  convince 
the  Italian  armies  that  American,  French  and  British  troops  are 
indifferent  to  their  fate,  can  only  tend  to  cause  dissension,  discour¬ 
agement  and  disruption.  Therefore  we  see  this  effort  made  with 
every  ingenious  device. 

The  Germans  in  their  spring  drive  of  1918  spent  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  lives  and  incalculable  treasure  in  a  vain  effort  to  split 
the  British  army  from  the  French.  The  success  of  the  propa¬ 
ganda  of  disruption  would  have  achieved  the  same  end  without 
the  shedding  of  any  blood  or  the  expenditure  of  large  moneys. 
Working  in  conjunction  with  actual  attack,  propaganda  will  ruin 
the  morale,  therefore  the  fighting  power,  of  many  soldiers  who  do 
not  succumb  to  the  shells. 

Of  equal  military  importance  is  the  propaganda  that  disheartens 
the  people  at  home.  Panic  works  both  ways  from  the  middle. 
Everything  that  weakens  the  determination  of  the  people  or  its 
confidence  in  its  army,  weakens  the  determination  of  the  army  and 
its  confidence  in  its  people.  Everything  that  tends  to  slow  up  the 
military  activity  or  the  civilian  activity,  has  an  instant  influence 
upon  the  success  of  the  war. 

Propaganda  is,  in  short,  a  form  of  invisible,  almost  inaudible 
gas  attack,  either  directly  upon  the  trenches  or  far  back  of  the 


4 


Propaganda 


line.  The  Germans,  having  shown  an  extraordinary  taste  for  novel¬ 
ties  in  insidious  warfare,  have  found  propaganda  a  peculiarly 
congenial  weapon,  and  have  developed  it  to  unheard  of  propor¬ 
tions  just  as  they  had  developed  the  secret  .police  to  an  extent 
unparalleled  in  either  peace  or  war,  at  home  and  abroad. 


CHAPTER  I. 


PROPAGANDA  AGAINST  THE  ALLIES. 

If  propaganda  had  no  direct  military  value,  the  most  militaristic 
of  nations  would  not  give  it  the  supreme  importance  it  holds  in 
the  German  campaign. 

Universal  service  has  long  been  a  Prussian  institution.  It 
implies  the  assignment  of  each  man  to  the  military  task  he  is  best 
fitted  for.  Certain  Germans  with  no  love  for  America  having  been 
prevented  by  the  Allied  control  of  the  seas  from  returning  to  Ger¬ 
many  to  fight,  have  still  fought  for  the  Kaiser  in  the  countries  where 
they  have  been  marooned.  But  great  numbers  of  Germans  in 
Germany  have  been  mobilized  in  the  propaganda  divisions,  spe¬ 
cializing  according  to  their  several  proficiencies. 

DEFENSIVE  PROPAGANDA 

The  first  task  of  the  propagandists  was  justifying  the  German 
attack  on  civilization.  Famous  historians  issued  treatises  pro¬ 
testing  an  innocence  which  the  high  state  of  preparedness  visibly 
belied.  Diplomatists  put  forth  documents  throwing  the  blame  for 
the  war  on  England,  France  and  Russia,  and  particularly  on  Earl 
Grey.  Subsequent  revelations  of  German  diplomats  merely  con¬ 
firmed  by  confession  the  guilt  which  had  been  generally  recognized. 
A  group  of  eminent  professors  and  scientists  published  a  statement 
glorifying  the  military  procedure  in  terms  far  from  academic. 
Fanatic  clergymen  called  loudly  on  their  God  for  His  blessing  on 
the  holy  crusade  of  His  anointed  Kaiser. 

When'  the  atrocities  in  Belgium  shocked  mankind,  the  propa¬ 
gandists  retorted  by  denying  that  any  atrocities  had  occurred  except 
such  as  the  “Belgian  beasts”  wreaked  on  the  German  wounded. 
A  volume  was  printed  proclaiming  the  tenderness  of  the  conquerors, 
and  the  wolfish  ness  of  the  Belgian  victims,  but  the  author  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  condemned  later  in  a  German  court  as  a 
criminal,  a  liar,  a  drug-fiend  and  a  drunkard. 

Campaigns  to  persuade  the  neutral  nations,  particularly  the 
United  States,  that  Germany  was  clean  of  heart  and  merciful, 
were  carried  out  on  a  magnificent  scale,  and  would  have  succeeded 
better  if  they  had  not  been  incessantly  thwarted  by  the  incontrol- 
lable  rapacity  and  cruelty  bf  the  imperial  armies  and  by  the 

5 


6 


Propaganda 


reckless  excesses  of  enthusiasts  in  arson  and  bomb-distribution. 

Before  taking  up  the  details  of  the  propaganda  war  on  the 
United  States,  allusion  may  be  made  to  a  few  of  the  most  striking 
methods  in  use  abroad. 

CONQUEST  BY  PROPAGANDA  :  THE  RUSSIAN  DISASTER. 

The  Prussian  soul  first  startled  the  world  by  its  swift  conquest 
of  Austria,  but  the  glory  of  her  generals  was  materially  dimmed 
afterwards  by  the  disclosure  of  the  fact  that  the  great  spy  chief, 
Stieber,  had,  as  he  called  it,  “sowed  spies”  throughout  Bohemia 
in  such  numbers  that  the  army  found  the  way  prepared. 

The  next  amazing  victory  was  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870. 
But  here  again  Stieber  claimed  to  have  paved  the  way  for  Bis¬ 
marck’s  success  by  what  he  called  his  secret  “entrenchment”  of  36,000 
spies  long  before  the  declaration  of  war. 

The  next  great  Prussian  name  is  Von  Hindenburg.  Years  after 
his  stupendous  victories  of  Tannenburg  and  the  Masurian  Lakes, 
the  truth  came  out  that  German  spies  had  conquered  the  Russian 
court  and  corrupted  the  General  at  the  head  of  the  ammunition 
supply  so  that  the  glorious  victory  was  rather  a  slaughter  of  powder¬ 
less  hordes  than  a  genuine  battle.  Later  the  Grand  Duke  Michael 
and  Brusiloff  and  Korniloff  saw  their  superb  victories  end  in  dis¬ 
aster  from  the  failure  of  supplies. 

Arnold  Bennet  has  written :  “Russian  failure  is  not  the  failure 
of  democracy.  German  victories  in  Russia  were  not  won  in  the 
field,  they  were  won  in  Petrograd,  in  offices  and  boudoirs.” 

Never  in  the  world’s  history  has  so  great  a  nation  as  Russia 
so  completely  collapsed.  This  epochal  cataclysm  was  the  supreme 
triumph  of  propaganda.  The  expense  of  this  propaganda  has  been 
estimated  at  $500,000,000.  Compared  to  the  expense  of  an  equal 
conquest  by  arms  and  compared  to  the  damage  inflicted  on  the 
Allied  cause  by  the  defection  of  the  Russian  armies  and  the  release 
of  millions  of  German  troops  for  the  western  drive,  propaganda 
has  here  established  itself  as  not  only  the  most  efficient  but  also  the 
cheapest  military  weapon  ever  devised. 

The  Kaiser’s  propagandists  must  have  taken  a  peculiar  delight 
in  using  men  as  their  dupes  who  sought  for  freedom  from  a  despot. 
When  the  Czar  was  dethroned  and  a  republic  established,  the  propa¬ 
gandists  turned  to  the  still  more  radical  elements  and  encouraged 
the  Bolsheviki  to  attack  all  remaining  authority.  Russia  was  filled 
with  German  agents  in  disguise  and  with  purchased  Russians  who 


Against  the  Allies 


i 


helped  to  spread  the  gospels  of  disorder.  The  German  soldiers 
left  their  trenches  to  fraternize  with  the  Russians.  Soldiers  whose 
Kaiser  had  held  it  up  to  them  as  a  sacred  duty  to  obey  his  every 
behest,  even  to  the  shooting  of  their  own  parents  without  hesita¬ 
tion,  were  seen  encouraging  the  Russian  soldiers  to  believe  that 
it  wras  a  soldier’s  sacred  duty  not  only  to  refuse  to  obey  his  officers 
or  to  salute  them,  but  to  shoot  them  if  they  grew  too  dictatorial. 
Imperial  Germany’s  conquest  of  democratic  Russia  by  a  propaganda 
of  individualism  gone  mad,  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history. 

Just  as  honest  and  as  grotesque  a  campaign  was  made  in  the 
United  States,  but  with  only  a  success  of  delay.  For  there  have 
been  abundant  and  convincing  proofs  of  the  lavish  expenditure 
of  German  money  in  the  United  States  to  discourage  the  movement 
for  preparedness  and  to  thwart  in  Congress  and  among  the  people 
the  growing  realization  of  the  need  of  an  army  and  a  navy. 

The  propagandists  failed  in  this  respect  in  the  United  States 
because  they  could  not  conceal  the  deeds  of  the  U-boat  and 
Schrecldichlceit  partisans,  but  they  have  not  ceased  to  do  their 
utmost  to  delay  and  thwart  preparation  and  efficiency,  propagat¬ 
ing  in  this  and  other  countries  the  doctrines  of  non-resistance, 
pacifism  and  prostration.  They  encourage  non-resistance  to  Ger¬ 
many,  but  resistance  to  the  American  law  even  to  martyrdom. 

Some  of  the  loudest  pacifists  have  proved  to  be  German  agents, 
and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  exquisite  impudences  of  the 
Prussian  strategy  that  some  of  the  most  active  open  allies  of 
Germany  and  the  most  persistent  opponents  of  all  efforts  to  prevent 
her  world  conquest  are  zealots  who  uphold  peace  at  any  price, 
demand  free  speech  while  freedom  itself  is  threatened,  and  fear¬ 
lessly  defend  certain  clauses  of  the  Constitution  against  those  who 
are  trying  to  defend  the  very  existence  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
nation  it  constitutes. 

PANIC  BY  PROPAGANDA  :  THE  ITALIAN  RETREAT. 

Germany’s  second  success  with  a  major  nation  was  the  Italian 
retreat.  This  was  another  conquest  by  propaganda.  The  Italian 
army,  flushed  with  great  victories  and  about  to  move  forward  to 
greater,  was  suddenly  thrown  into  a  panic  like  a  theatre  fire,  and 
driven  in  rout  from  mountain  strongholds  till  it  was  brought  to 
a  stand  far  back  on  its  own  territory. 

This  Austro-German  success  was  prepared  bv  various  forms  of 
propaganda.  The  large  anarchist  element  in  Ttaly  was  encouraged 


8 


Propaganda 


and  funded.  Religious  schisms  were  fostered.  Forged  newspapers 
in  the  Italian  language,  but  printed  in  Germany  and  made  up 
to  imitate  Italian  papers,  were  filled  with  articles  preparing  for 
defeat  and  making  accusations  of  treachery. 

Among  the  most  contemptible  devices  ever  known  for  distracting 
an  enemy’s  attention  was  the  wholesale  forgery  of  Roman  and 
Milanese  newspapers,  absolute  facsimiles  of  familiar  journals  but 
containing  sensational  articles  telling  not  only  that  Austria  was 
in  revolt  and  that  Emperor  Charles  had  been  killed,  but  also 
describing  alleged  bread-riots  throughout  Italy  and  stating  that 
the  Government,  unable  to  quell  them  with  its  own  forces,  sent 
British  and  French  reinforcing  troops  and  even  Zulus,  into  the 
cities  and  that  these  foreigners  shot  down  Italian  women,  children 
and  priests  without  mercy.  It  was  intimated  that  the  Italian 
troops  were  to  be  recalled  from  the  front  lines  to  defend  the 
civilian  populace  against  the  atrocities  of  the  British  and  French. 

Postal  cards  and  letters  in  vast  numbers  were  sent  to  individual 
soldiers  stating  that  their  wives  were  in  illicit  relation  with  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  Allies. 

These  papers,  as  well  as  circulars  and  postal  cards  of  similar 
import,  were  conveyed  into  the  lines  of  the  Italians  in  multitudes 
and  they  were  naturally  believed  to  be  genuine.  It  is  small  wonder 
that  the  impressionable  soldiery  should  be  infuriated  against  their 
Government  and  its  Allies  and  should  be  more  impelled  to  seek 
vengeance  at  home  than  across  the  border. 

In  preparation  for  and  in  cooperation  with  this  newspaper  bom¬ 
bardment,  the  Austrians  tried  to  assume  the  role  of  friends  of  Italy 
and  lovers  of  peace.  As  in  the  Russian  case,  troops  in  the  trenches 
were  encouraged  to  fraternize  across  No  Man’s  Land,  and  the 
Italians  were  assured  of  Austrian  sympathy.  Their  vigilance  re¬ 
laxed.  On  the  night  before  the  attack,  new  regiments  were  quietly 
marched  into  the  Austrian  trenches.  They  made  an  unforeseen 
assault  upon  the  sector  where  peace  had  reigned,  and  pierced  the 
line  at  a  critical  point,  starting  a  panic  which  extended  to  other 
points  where  soldiers  whose  morale  was  undermined  swept  away 
those  who  would  have  resisted.  The  line  gave  way  at  numerous 
points  and  the  whole  structure  of  resistance  crumbled.  Germans, 
Austrians  and  Bulgarians  in  Italian  officers’  uniforms  mingled  with 
the  Italians  and  had  telephone  lines  cut,  bridges  and  railroads 
wrecked  and  issued  false  orders  to  troops,  causing  utter  confusion, 
which  the  Austrian  armies  turned  to  panic  as  they  dashed  forward. 


Against  the  Allies 


9 


The  cost  of  this  in  lives  and  territory  was  not  limited  to  the 
Italian  army.  It  deranged  the  plans  of  the  Allies,  compelled  the 
diversion  of  large  forces,  and  thousands  of  guns  to  replace  the 
heavy  losses  in  artillery.  It  revived  Austrian  spirit  and  shook  the 
confidence  of  all  the  Allies.  Furthermore,  it  made  the  Italians 
themselves  receptive  to  continued  propaganda  of  the  so-called  “de¬ 
featist”  brand. 

The  success  of  this  program  was  so  overwhelming  that  it  has 
naturally  been  tried  again.  Eepeated  attempts  to  arouse  the  resent¬ 
ment  of  the  Italians  against  their  allies  have  been  made  by  the  imi¬ 
tation  newspapers. 

As  late  as  May  9th,  an  officer  in  the  Italian  army  is  quoted  as 
saying : 


“The  Central  Empires  are  without  doubt  trying  to  launch  one 
of  their  greatest  peace  propagandas.  Germany’s  aim  is  to  thor¬ 
oughly  demoralize  the  armies  and  populations  of  the  allied  coun¬ 
tries  and  then  to  attack  with  overwhelming  forces  the  weakest 
point  on  the  allied  front. 

“The  Austrians  have  begun  again  their  distribution  in  the 
trenches  of  false  Italian  newspapers  with  faked  alarming  news, 
having  the  object  of  discouraging  the  soldiers,  but  they  succeed 
only  in  causing  irritation  and  anger  against  the  enemy. 

“One  of  the  chief  arguments  of  this  Austro-German  propa¬ 
ganda  is  an  attempt  to  convince  Italians  that  America  is  only 
bluffing,  pointing  out  the  delay  with  which  her  promised  assist¬ 
ance  is  reaching  the  theatre  of  war.  This  palpable  lie  also  makes 
no  impression,  being  scorned  by  our  soldiers,  owing  to  the  many 
evidences  to  the  contrary.” 

A  very  recent  and  singularly  petty  instance  of  trickery  is  thus 
described  in  the  Washington  Star  of  May  31 : 

“A  new  and  brazen  form  of  German  propaganda,  designed  to 
destroy  the  confidence  of  the  allies  in  the  United  States,  is  dis¬ 
closed  in  dispatches  received  here  today. 

“It  consisted  of  the  publication  in  a  German  organ  of  the 
kaiser,  the  Deutsche  Tages  Zeitung.  of  an  article  to  the  effect  that 
the  recent  message  of  President  Wilson  to  Italy  had  not  been 
to  Italy  at  all,  but  to  France,  but  that  the  Italian  Government 
had  substituted  ‘Italy’  and  ‘Italian’  wherever  the  words 
‘France’  or  ‘French’  had  occurred. 

“Thousands  of  copies  of  this  paper  then  were  circulated  in 
France  and  in  Italy,  and  in  the  latter  country  special  effort  was 
made  to  drop  copies  among  troops  all  along  the  Italian  front, 
and  also  in  cities  near  enough  to  be  reached  by  the  enemy’s 
aeroplanes. 

“The  dispatch  quotes  the  falsified  statement  of  the  Deutsche 
Tages  Zeitung ,  contained  in  the  issue  of  May  24,  as  follows: 

“  ‘According  to  news  received  from  the  French  and  Italian 
frontiers  it  appears  that  there  was  great  unrest  in  those  two 


(2) 


10 


Propaganda 


countries  and  that  the  Governments,  in  order  to  calm  the  popula¬ 
tions,  offered  the  people  Mr.  Wilson’s  message  as  a  soothing 
remedy  which  was  given  wide  publicity  in  Italy  after  introduc¬ 
ing  arbitrarily  sentences,  changes  and  substitutions. 

“  ‘Instead  of  “the  people  of  the  United  States  are  glad  to  find 
themselves  associated  in  the  same  cause  with  the  Italian  people” 
the  original  text  says:  “The  people  of  the  United  States  are 
glad  to  find  themselves  associated  in  the  same  cause  with  the 
French  people.” 

“  ‘Also  instead  of  “the  people  of  the  United  States  have  looked 
with  profound  interest  and  sympathy  upon  the  efforts  and  sacri¬ 
fices  of  Italy”  the  original  text  says:  “The  people  of  the  United 
States  have  looked  with  profound  interest  and  sympathy  upon 
the  efforts  and  sacrifices  of  France.”  ’ 

“Dispatches  received  here  from  Italy  say  that  this  Berlin 
emanation  was  received  with  ridicule  by  both  the  Italian  soldiers 
and  civilians,  who  realized  that  it  was  unthinkable  that  their 
Government  would  tamper  with  an  official  statement  of  the  head 
of  an  allied  nation. 

“But,  it  was  pointed  out,  the  effect  of  such  propaganda  among 
troops  about  to  strike  a  decisive  blow,  who  had  not  confidence 
in  their  Government  or  who  were  discouraged,  could  easily  be 

seen.” 

On  one  occasion,  according  to  a  Swiss  informant  of  Carl  W. 
Ackerman  ( Saturday  Evening  Post,  May  25,  1918)  the  Germans 
shipped  a  million  copies  of  an  Italian  newspaper  printed  in  Berlin 
through  Switzerland  into  Italy  on  a  coal  train.  Several  hundred 
revolvers  and  boxes  of  ammunition  and  bombs  were  sent  in  suit¬ 
cases  to  Italian  anarchists. 

Preceding  the  Austrian  drive  against  Italy  in  June,  1918,  there 
was  a  propaganda  attack.  The  Idea  Nazionale  of  Borne  (quoted 
in  the  literary  Digest  June  22,  1918)  speaks  of  it  as  follows:  , 

“The  moral  offensive  which  precedes  and  is  doubtless  intended 
to  serve  as  a  smoke-veil  and  poisoned-gas  attack  combined,  in 
preparation  for  a  military  offensive,  has  reached  its  climax. 
Throughout  all  Italy  there  is  a  renewal  of  the  criminal  propa¬ 
ganda  which  preceded,  accompanied,  and  followed  Caporetto. 
We  have  the  same  manifestation,  the  same  arguments,  and  the 
same  poisoning  of  the  public  mind.  Leaflets  introduced  into 
houses  and  stores  at  Milan,  proclamations  disseminated  at 
Florence,  rumors  spread  in  Naples,  false  news,  false  documents, 
false  assertions,  all  tending  systematically  toward  the  following 
three  aims:  1.  To  infuse  terror  by  talk  of  fantastic  enemy 
air  raids  against  the  chief  cities  of  Italy;  2.  To  show  that  the 
destruction  of  our  army  is  imminent  and  inevitable  in  view  of 
the  great  new  offensives  represented  as  of  gigantic  proportions; 
3.  To  suggest  peace  as  the  only  means  of  salvation,  inventing 
honorable  enemy  proposals  opening  the  way  for  genuine  nego¬ 
tiations. 

“To  such  an  extent,  says  the  Rome  Tribuna ,  have  rumors  been 
flying  around,  that  ‘the  United  States  Embassy  found  it  neces¬ 
sary  to  contradict  a  rumor  that  President  Wilson  had  expressed 
views  so  contrary  to  the  desires  and  hopes  of  Italy,  that  their 


Against  the  Allies 


11 


publication  in  Italy  had  been  forbidden  by  the  censor.’  While 
all  this  German  propaganda  is  going  on  in  Italy,  the  Italians 
take  this  opportunity  of  warning  the  English-speaking  press  of 
a  subtle  piece  of  propaganda  which,  the  Italians  say,  has  laid 
hold  of  the  journalistic  mind  both  in  America  and  England.  The 
Milan  Secolo  writes: 

“  ‘One  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  superstitions  is  that  Austria  is 
something  substantially  different  from  Germany  and  that  her 
standards,  or  political,  civil,  and  moral  levels  are  more  akin  to 
those  of  Western  democracy  than  to  those  of  German  autocracy. 

“  ‘The  other  illusion  is  that  for  a  long  time  Austria  has  been 
trying  to  free  herself  from  subjection  to  Berlin  and  contem¬ 
plates  placing  herself  in  the  good  graces  of  the  Entente  by 
means  of  a  separate  peace. 

“  ‘No  one  knows  Austria  better  than  Italy  and  the  Italians. 
No  one  has  a  better  right  to  speak  on  this  question.  No  one  has 
so  much  documentary  and  historic  evidence  on  hand.  We  must 
unmask  Austria.’ 

“This  the  Secolo  proceeds  to  do  with  great  vigor  and  belabors 
two  English  journals  soundly  for  being  so  gullible: 

“  ‘Who  has  espoused  the  cause  of  Austria  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm?  The  Puritan  and  Non-conformist  Radicalism  of  pa¬ 
pers  like  the  London  Daily  News  and  the  Nation ,  which  in  their 
neopacifistic  fervor  and  their  profound  ignorance,  see,  in  the- 
elimination  of  Austria  from  the  war,  a  way  of  getting  swiftly 
into  touch  with  Germany. 

“  ‘It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  Austria  from  afar  laughs  at 
so  much  simpleness,  but  neglects  nothing  to  encourage  her  old 
and  tried  friends,  the  Ultramontanes,  and  to  dupe  her  new 
friends,  the  Puritans.  It  is  in  this  light  that  those  speeches  of 
Count  Czernin  inviting  President  Wilson  to  “conversations’’ 
ought  to  be  read,  while  ex-Ambassador  Mensdorff  meets  General 
Smuts  at  Zurich  and  tries  to  temporize  with  a  little  light  con¬ 
versation  without  realizing  that  the  Boer  General  is  not  a  fish 
to  be  caught  in  such  a  net. 

“  ‘It  is  to  be  hoped  that  after  this  vain  attempt  the  idea  of 
paying  court  to  Austria  in  order  to  separate  her  from  Germany 
will  be  abandoned  by  all  the  Entente  Governments,  and  that  they 
will  all  be  convinced  that  the  one  policy  possible  is  war  to  the 
uttermost  with  equal  intensity  against  both  Central  Empires — 
war  until  that  victory  is  reached  which  will  make  possible  the 
realization  of  the  promises  given  to  the  subject  nationalities 
of  complete  independence. 

“  ‘If  the  Entente  went  back  on  this,  its  moral  undertaking  so 
loudly  proclaimed  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  in  order  to  con¬ 
clude  a  premature  peace  which,  even  if  it  satisfied  Italian  aims 
wholly  or  in  part,  still  left  the  Czechs,  Jugo-Slavs,  Roumanians, 
and  Poles  oppressed  and  divided,  it  would  be  little  less  than  a 
betrayal  of  the  principles  which  the  war  has  sanctified.’  ” 


This  is  peculiarly  a  war  by  propaganda.  No  more  important 
munitions  are  turned  out  than  the  various  devices  of  propaganda. 
The  nation  that  neglects  both  to.  provide  itself  against  hostile  propa¬ 
ganda  and  to  fight  back  with  counter  propaganda  is  doomed. 

As  picturesque  as  a  battle  between  air  squadrons  has  been  the- 
propaganda  duel  over  Italy.  The  first  offensive  has  been  described 


12 


Propaganda 


above.  Itaty  was  caught  unawares  by  the  propagandists  as  by  the 
soldiers.  The  first  offensive  was  a  terrific  success. 

The  second  offensive  was  a  terrific  failure.  Why?  Without 
robbing  the  heroes  in  the  trenches  of  one  laurel  leaf,  an  additional 
laurel  crown  might  well  be  voted  to  the  counter  propagandists. 
Americans  had  a  share  in  this.  This  story  of  Austria’s  attack  and 
disaster  is  well  told  by  Walter  Littlefield  in  the  New  York  Times 
for  July  14,  1918  : 


“An  elaborate  propaganda  of  treason  was  launched  in  Italy 
just  before  the  Austrians  began  their  offensive  of  July  15;  it 
lacked,  however,  that  dominating,  diabolic  co-ordination  and 
artistic  finish  which  characterized  the  one  conceived,  developed 
and  executed  by  that  arch-inventor  of  propaganda,  Ludendorff, 
which  brought  about  the  Caporetto  catastrophe — transitory,  yet 
none  the  less  painful  to  the  Italian  State  and  people. 

“The  second  propaganda,  however,  was  as  abortive  as  the  of¬ 
fensive  whose  path  it  was  supposed  to  blaze.  Like  the  offensive 
itself,  it  was  an  entirely  Austrian  affair.  In  it  the  pupil,  Arthur 
Arz  von  Straussenburg,  Chief  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Staff,  at¬ 
tempted  to  rival  his  master,  Ludendorff,  in  ingenuity.  And  it  is 
of  some  satisfaction  to  us  over  here  that  Straussenburg’s  failure 
was  measurably  due  to  the  counterpropaganda  conducted  in  Italy 
by  the  American  Red  Cross. 

“It  is  not,  of  course,  asserted  that  the  Americans  produced  an 
intellectual  revolution  in  Italy.  Caporetto  had  already  done 
that.  The  symbol  of  ‘Savoia’  had  been  repulsed  by  the  actuality 
of  ‘Italia.’  The  traitors  had  been  ‘tagged’  whether  hiding  be¬ 
hind  the  platitudes  of  pacifism,  the  red  flag,  or  the  cassock.  And, 
fully  aware  when  and  where  the  offensive  was  to  take  place,  the 
army  heads  were  fully  prepared  to  deal  with  the  enemy  agents 
masquerading  in  the  Italian  uniform  and  speaking  the  Italian 
language,  who,  with  pockets  full  of  kronen,  should  mingle  with 
Italian  soldiers  and  civilians  during  the  confusion  of  the  first 
shock — so  it  had  been  at  Caporetto. 

“The  army,  on  this  occasion,  could  take  care  of  itself — did, 
in  fact,  take  care  of  itself,  as  events  have  proved — but  there  were 
the  people  at  home,  in  small  towns  and  villages,  who  had  accepted 
Caporetto  as  a  retribution,  not  as  a  revelation.  In  these  places 
the  American  Red  Cross  set  to  work.  The  ground  had  been 
prepared,  the  seed  sown.  But  it  needed  the  sunshine  of  en¬ 
couragement,  the  rain  of  faith  and  of  distant  help  not  to  be 
delayed  in  order  to  reveal  its  best  patriotic  fruit.  These  things 
the  Americans  brought. 

“As  far  back  as  the  middle  of  May  evidence  of  their  work 
was  sent  out  of  Italy  in  a  letter  by  a  member  of  the  British  Red 
Cross — all  the  more  significant  as  it  sets  an  example  for  the 
writer’s  own  organization  to  follow.  This  letter  was  printed  in 
the  London  Times  of  May  25' — just  three  weeks  before  the  Aus¬ 
trian  military  offensive  began — and  reads  in  part  as  follows: 

“  ‘The  American  Red  Cross,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Government,  has  been  engaged  recently  in  a  whirlwind  prop¬ 
aganda  campaign  throughout  the  whole  of  Italy,  carried  out  with 
characteristic  thoroughness  and  vigor. 

“  ‘Their  officials,  assisted  by  Italian  and  British  helpers,  have 


13 


Against  the  Allies 


visited  every  commune  in  Italy,  carrying  with  them  a  message 
from  the  American  Nation  to  the  Italian  people,  together  with 
tangible  proof  of  their  friendship. 

“  ‘They  were  everywhere  received  with  great  enthusiasm,  not 
only  because  of  the  gifts  they  brought,  but  more  especially  be¬ 
cause  they  mixed  with  the  people  of  all  classes,  talked  with  them 
and  to  them,  and  made  each  of  them  feel  that  the  whole  power 
and  strength  of  the  American  Nation  was  with  each  one  of 
them  individually.’ 

“Some  day  the  literature  used  by  Austria  in  her  second  prop¬ 
aganda  of  treason  in  Italy  will  form,  if  preserved,  a  most  interest¬ 
ing  literary  collection.  While  the  Austro-Hungarian  soldiers 
were  starving  or  freezing  on  the  heights  of  Asiago  and  Grappa, 
or  dying  from  pneumonia  or  tuberculosis  in  the  drowned  lands 
of  the  Piave,  Field  Marshal  von  Straussenburg  was  spending  thou¬ 
sands  of  kronen  on  printing  plants  at  Bolzano  and  Trent  and  re¬ 
establishing  the  deserted  newspaper  offices  of  Udine.  In  these 
places  were  printed  all  sorts  of  publications  in  the  Italian  lan¬ 
guage — some  with  pictures  and  cartoons  to  which  the  forged 
signatures  of  Italian  artists  were  attached.  They  consisted  of 
newspapers  and  periodicals,  leaflets  and  bulletins,  and  illustrated 
reviews. 

“Millions  of  copies  were  printed  and  were  at  first  unsus¬ 
pectingly  admitted  as  wrappers  around  parcels  sent  into  Italy 
through  Switzerland.  These  first  copies  contained  nothing 
startling — merely  pitiful  stories  of  Italy’s  suffering,  the  hope  that 
the  war  would  soon  be  over,  and  that  Austria,  with  half  her 
population,  would  not  prove  inflexible  in  regard  to  freeing  her 
Italian  subjects.  These  were  followed  by  others  of  more  pro¬ 
nounced  views — still  innocently  read  by  the  literate  guards  at 
isolated  railway  stations  and  bridges,  who  had  not  seen  a  news¬ 
paper  for  many  months. 

“Then  packages  of  them  arrived,  as  though  dispatched  by  mis¬ 
take,  with  addresses  which  had  no  existence.  At  the  beginning 
of  winter  they  would  have  been  quickly  soaked  in  a  mixture  of  oil 
and  wax  and  turned  into  ‘caldoranci’ — tapers  which  keep  the 
Italian  soldier’s  hands  from  freezing  and  his  coffee  hot' — but  as  it 
was  spring  they  were  innocently  passed  around  and  finally  made 
their  way  from  the  Astico  and  the  Adige  to  beyond  the  Po. 

“When  finally  the  authorities  became  aware  of  large  quantities 
of  precious  paper  coming  from  Switzerland  down  the  Adige  and 
Piave  in  small  boats  which  had  apparently  escaped  from  their 
moorings,  they  made  an  investigation;  just  as  obviously  treason¬ 
able  matter  was  being  innocently  rescued  from  the  waves  and 
distributed.  Some,  of  course,  was  not  innocently  distributed,  but 
carried  south  by  Austrian  agents,  where  it  was  availed  of  in  a 
hundred  ways — perhaps  read  in  the  meantime — owing  to  the 
scarcity  of  paper. 

^he  scope  of  this  propaganda  may  be  gathered  from  the 
titles  of  some  of  the  papers  and  periodicals:  II  Soldato,  La  Ver- 
itd,  II  Gazettino,  L'Idea  Democratica ,  U Independent e,  II  Gor- 
riere  di  Trincea,  etc.  Then  there  was  the  Gazzetta  del  Veneto, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  printed  in  Venice  itself.  Over  fifty 
titles  have  already  been  recorded,  but  doubtless  in  many  cases 
the  titles  did  not  survive  more  than  one  edition. 

“After  the  form  of  propaganda  already  noted,  another  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  which  England  was  at  first  sneered  at  and  then  at¬ 
tacked.  This  was  undertaken  by  a  series  of  publications  intended 
by  their  titles  to  arrest  the  attention  of  more  intelligent  soldiers 


14 


Propaganda 


and  civilians:  La  Voce  del  Piave,  La  Lettura  in  Trincea,  L'Ora 
Presente,  II  Cavallo  di  Frisia,  La  Tradotta  and  La  Ciberna,  to 
mention  only  a  few. 

“In  the  bolder  of  these  England  is  described  as  having  cor¬ 
rupted  the  Italian  Government — ‘Poor  Italy  has  become  its  slave 
and  the  unhappy  soldiers  are  dying  for  England  and  its  insatiable 
capitalists,  but  God  will  punish  England’ — ‘Dio  punisca  l’lnghil- 
terra.’ 

“Another  asks:  ‘Why  should  the  Italian  Government,  paid 
by  English  gold,  force  the  poor  Italian  soldiers  to  redeem  their 
happy  countrymen  in  Austria  when  other  Italians  are  suffering 
under  the  foreigner’s  yoke  in  Savoy,  Corsica  and  Malta?’ 

“One  of  the  papers  contains  a  caricature  of  King  Victor  Em¬ 
manuel  in  dwarf  shape  weighed  down  with  bags  marked  £  lead¬ 
ing  a  crowd  of  stalwart  Italian  soldiers,  whose  numbers  fade  in 
perspective,  over  a  cliff.  Under  it  is  the  legend:  ‘Unico  remedio, 
romperla  con  la  perfida  Inghilterra,  far  la  pace  con  l’angelica 
Austria’  — ‘the  only  remedy;  break  with  perfidious  England,  make 
peace  with  angelic  Austria.’ 

“Just  before  the  offensive  of  June  15  the  Austrians,  not  know¬ 
ing  that  their  campaign  of  ‘education’  was  already  lost  and 
that  the  paper,  as  dear  in  Austria  as  in  Italy,  which  they  had 
so  lavishly  distributed,  was  being  put  to  many  useful  ends  in 
Italy,  loaded  down  their  aviators  with  propaganda  literature. 
This  last  effort  in  print  and  often  in  color  illustrations  paid 
attention  to  several  recent  events  in  Italy — the  danger  that  their 
beloved  church  was  suffering  at  the  hands  of  the  Freemasons, 
the  danger  of  taking  the  ‘treasonable’  Czechoslovaks  to  their 
bosom,  and,  above  all,  the  illusion  that  that  aid  would  come  from 
America.  This  last  theme  was  emphasized  by  vulgar  cartoons 
of  President  Wilson  designated  as  ‘the  man  of  many  promises.’ 

“It  was  thus  into  an  atmosphere  more  or  less  depressed, 
more  or  less  colored  by  the  literature  of  these  specious  phrases 
and  pictures,  that  the  American  Red  Cross  penetrated,  bringing 
substantial  aid  to  those  suffering  physically  and  words  of  cheer 
and  hope  to  those  mentally  depressed  with  the  horrors  of  war 
and  the  seductive  propaganda  of  von  Straussenburg. 

There  seems  to  be  here  a  lesson  well  worth  learning  in  the  art  of  . 
war  by  propaganda.  The  Germans  have  shown  marvelous  skill  and 
thoroughness  in  their  schemes,  but  they  are  always  schemes.  They 
have  a  cruel  and  tyrannous  ambition,  and  their  means  of  attain¬ 
ing  it  are  colored  by  it.  The  pride  and  delight  they  take  in  foul 
play  arouse  a  sense  at  first  of  horror,  then  of  nausea,  then  almost  of 
cynicism  toward  the  hope  of  fighting  such  dirty  fighters  with  clean 
hands. 

But  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  eternal  destruction  of 
German  methods  is  their  own  internal  corruption.  They  are  im¬ 
mensely  clever,  but  not  at  all  wise.  They  have  enormous  talent 
for  conquest,  but  no  genius  for  endearing  themselves  to  the  con¬ 
quered. 

The  temptation  is  incessant  to  fight  their  lies  with  other  lies ;  to 
take  up  their  challenge  and  become  assassins  also.  But  if  there 


Against  the  Allies 


15 


were  no  other  argument  against  this  detestable  extreme,  its  own 
futility  would  condemn  it.  The  sunlight  is  the  great  antiseptic. 
The  truth  is  the  best  answer  to  slander.  The  best  enemy  of  tyranny 
is  equality,  and  the  keenest  sword  against  cruelty  is  the  irresistible 
weapon  of  mercy. 

It  is  comforting  and  reassuring  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the 
aid  given  by  the  American  Red  Cross  to  Italy  was  not  only  beauti¬ 
ful  as  charity,  but  also  the  very  inspiration  of  strategy. 

THE  TECHNIQUE  OF  TRENCH  PROPAGANDA. 

There  is  something  Satanic  in  the  persistent  shamelessness  of 
German  ingenuities.  Having  no  liberty  or  justice  to  proclaim  as  a 
recommendation  of  their  cause,  they  are  driven  to  lies.  No  slander 
seems  too  vile  or  too  cheap  to  attempt  in  the  evident  belief  that 
each  of  the  lies  will  find  its  own  congenial  soil. 

The  methods  of  getting  their  propaganda  into  the  trenches  are 
many;  they  are  dropped  from  airships,  smuggled  into  the  country 
from  neutral  nations,  then  carried  to  the  lines  by  spies,  or  sent 
over  by  toy  balloons,  tied  to  rocks  and  thrown  over,  or  even  carried 
across  by  daring  volunteers. 

There  has  been  all  too  much  evidence  of  the  military  import¬ 
ance  given  to  this  mode  of  warfare  of  the  Germans,  but  the  final 
confirmation  is  seen  in  the  following  astounding  order  found  April 
11,  1918,  on  a  German  soldier  taken  prisoner  by  the  French  troops 
in  Italy.  The  soldier  had  disobeyed  the  directions  not  to  take  this 
order  into  the  front  line  trenches.  The  reasons  for  such  a  Verbot 
are  manifest  in  the  order,  which  reads  as  follows: 

“Two  Hundred  and  Eighty-first  Division,  first  section,  No.  226. 

“Confidential — Not  to  be  communicated  to  the  troops  in  the 
first  line: 

“First — Following  the  telephone  order  Geroch  No.  2089,  you 
are  asked  to  intensify  with  efficacy  the  propaganda  with  the 
enemy  army. 

“Second — The  object  of  this  propaganda  is  to  disorganize  the 
enemy  army  and  to  obtain  information  regarding  it.  The  propa¬ 
ganda  must  be  carried  out  in  the  following  manner: 

“A — By  throwing  into  the  enemy’s  trenches  newspapers  and 
proclamations  destined  for  the  more  intelligent  elements. 

“B — By  persuading  the  troops  by  oral  propaganda.  For  that 
it  will  be  necessary  to  utilize  officers,  non-commissioned  officers 
and  soldiers  who  appear  to  be  most  adept. 

“The  post  for  taking  contact  with  the  enemy  must  be  placed 
under  the  direction  of  the  company  commanders  who  must  be  in 
the  first  line  positions.  These  officers  must  ascertain  the  points 
where  it  will  be  the  easiest  to  throw  into  the  enemy’s  trenches 


16 


Propaganda 


newspapers,  proclamations,  etc.  At  those  points  you  must  seek  to 
gain  contact  with  the  enemy  by  means  of  our  interpreters  and 
if  the  enemy  consents,  then  fix  an  hour  for  future  conversations. 

“You  must  then  advise  immediately  by  telephone  the  chiefs 
of  the  Information  Bureau  of  the  division  of  every  contact  with 
the  enemy.  Only  the  chief  of  the  Information  Bureau  will  have 
the  right  to  direct  the  conversations  according  to  the  instructions 
he  has  received. 

“It  is  rigorously  prohibited  for  any  soldier  to  enter  into 
relation  with  the  enemy  except  those  who  have  received  the 
mission  to  do  so,  for  fear  that  the  enemy  may  seek  to  profit  by 
their  ingenuousness. 

“All  letters  and  printed  matter  which  the  enemy  may  have 
on  his  person  must  be  taken  from  him  and  transmitted  to  the 
chief  of  the  Information  Bureau. 

“In  these  enterprises  for  obtaining  contact  with  the  enemy 
success  depends  on  the  ability  with  which  you  operate.  Good 
results  can  be  obtained  by  calling  in  a  friendly  tone  and  indicat¬ 
ing  sentiments  of  comradeship  or  by  reiterating  promises  not  to 
fire  and  by  offers  of  tobacco.  The  tobacco  for  this  purpose  will 
be  furnished  by  the  Company  commanders. 

“Every  evening  at  8  o’clock  the  company  commanders  must 
transmit  directly  to  the  Information  officer  a  report  of  the  propa¬ 
ganda  accomplished  during  the  day.  This  report  must  contain 
the  following  indications: 

“A — Has  the  enemy  picked  up  our  newspapers  and  proclama¬ 
tions? 

“B — Have  you  endeavored  to  enter  into  relations  with  the 
enemy? 

“C — With  whom  have  you  had  contact?  Officers?  Non-com¬ 
missioned  officers?  Soldiers? 

“D — Where  and  when  were  our  newspapers  and  proclamations 
thrown  into  the  enemy’s  trenches? 

“E — All  other  information  on  the  enemy’s  conduct. 

“At  the  same  time  our  interpreters  will  send  to  the  chief  of 
the  Information  Bureau  a  detailed  report  on  all  conversations 
they  may  have  had  with  the  enemy. 

“The  enemy’s  positions  when  propaganda  is  under  way  must 
not  be  shelled  by  our  artillery.  They  must  be  bombarded  in 
case  of  attack.  The  company  Commanders  must  indicate  to 
the  batteries  the  position  of  these. 

“The  enemy  is  perfidious  and  without  honor  and  it  is  neces¬ 
sary  as  a  consequence  to  be  careful  that  they  neither  take  our 
propagandists  prisoner  nor  kill  them.  Those  of  our  soldiers  who 
leave  our  lines  for  the  purposes  of  carrying  newspapers  and 
pamphlets  to  the  enemy  must  be  advised.  To  protect  them  it 
will  be  necessary  to  constitute  with  care  special  detachments 
who  will  mount  guard  in  the  trenches  and  who  will  fire  only 
on  the  order  of  the  company  commanders  who  are  directing  the 
relations  with  the  enemy.” 

An  almost  exact  duplicate  of  this  order  had  been  issued  nearly 
a  year  before  at  the  time  when  the  Germans  were  undermining  the 
Russian  army,  and  starting  their  campaign  of  fatal  “fraternization/’ 
This  order  was  published  in  the  Petrograd  papers  and  later  in  the  . 
Moscow  Russicoye  SIovo  of  December  1,  1917.  It  was  an  official 


Against  the  Allies 


17 


order  of  the  German  General  Staff  to  the  218th  Army  Division, 
First  Section,  No.  266,  and  is  signed  “J.  V.  D.  B.  D.  K.  The  chief 
of  the  Division  (on  leave  of  absence)  per  Kreinberg,  general,  major 
and  chief  of  the  6 2d  Brigade.” 

It  is  practically  identical  with  the  order  quoted  above  except 
that  in  2  B  it  advises  “selecting  credulous  officers  and  sergeants  in 
the  enemy  troops”  and  there  is  later  a  positive  order  that  “written 
and  printed  matter  brought  by  the  enemy  must  be  accepted  and 
immediately  forwarded  to  the  head  of  the  bureau  of  information. 
It  is  strictly  forbidden  to  open  them  and,  in  general,  to  touch  them/' 
and  the  caution  is  added,  “the  success  of  opening  communications 
with  the  enemy  by  the  above-described  methods  depends  on  the 
adroitness  with  which  the  first  steps  are  made.  Shouts  will  only 
frighten  the  enemy,  who  is  timid  by  nature,  and  throw  the  whole 
post  into  alarm.”  The  same  quaint  statement  is  made  that  “the 
enemy  is  crafty  and  faithless.” 

The  overwhelming  victory  achieved  by  this  form  of  propaganda 
in  Russia  naturally  suggested  its  repetition  against  the  Italians, 
where  it  had  like  success. 

The  balloon  propagandists  have,  of  course,  taken  good  care  of 
the  American  troops  as  they  arrive.  Edwin  L.  James  describes 
some  of  their  recent  attentions : 

“WITH  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY  ON  THE  MARNE,  July  6.— 
'Germany  has  started  to  try  her  subtle  propaganda  on  the  Amer¬ 
ican  soldiers.  On  July  4,  for  the  first  time  on  this  sector,  hot  air 
balloons  floated  over  our  lines  with  an  automatic  attachment  scat¬ 
tering  at  intervals  large  numbers  of  propaganda  pamphlets  and 
copies  of  the  infamous  Gazette  des  Ardennes. 

“One  story  has  a  conspicuously  large  number  of  surrendered 
Germans  telling  our  soldiers  that  the  Hun  soldiers  do  not  want 
to  fight  any  more,  but  are  driven  on  by  their  commanders.  This 
at  the  time  when  our  commanders  know  full  well  that  with  their 
comrades  these  same  men  in  Germany  are  about  to  launch  a 
powerful  drive. 

“The  Gazette  des  Ardennes,  dropped  over  our  lines,  contained 
scraps  of  news  culled  all  over  the  world,  and  items  most  favorable 
to  Germany.  There  was  no  mention  of  anything  American,  but 
many  items  dealing  with  trading  and  intended  to  promote  discord 
among  the  allies. 

“One  pamphlet  entitled  ‘Who  Really  Started  the  War’  con¬ 
tains  data  blaming  Russia  and  England.  Many  attempts  are 
made  to  show  that  the  published  facts  as  to  German  atrocities 
were  false.  It  reproduces  a  picture  from  the  New  York  Tribune 
of  October,  1914,  purporting  to  show  Belgian  soldiers  in  the  tower 
of  a  cathedral  which  the  Germans  destroyed. 

“Another  pamphlet  reproduces  a  large  number  of  pictures  and 
jests  of  French  papers  directed  against  the  English.  Some  of 
these  are  ten  years  old. 


18 


Propaganda 


“Judging  from  the  reception  this  propaganda  got  among  our 
soldiers,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  vaunted  propaganda  of  the 
Kaiser  will  do  no  better  against  our  doughboys  than  his  vaunted 
guard  divisions. 

“There  is  no  bolshevik,  no  pacifist,  no  irrational  idealist  among 
the  American  soldiers.  Their  thinking  is  confined  to  beating  the 
boche,  and  they  are  perfectly  willing  to  allow  the  political  and 
economic  questions  to  be  settled  after  the  war,  when  there  will 
be  plenty  of  time  for  such  things.  Now  they  have  time  only  for 
beating  Germany.” 

A  type  of  the  material  sent  into  our  lines  is  contained  in  the 
following  report  from  General  Pershing : 

“In  the  Colmar  sector,  on  July  1,  an  amusing  example  of  Ger¬ 
man  propaganda  designed  to  induce  our  men  to  surrender  easily 
was  found.  A  German  plane  dropped  in  our  line  a  postcard 
reading: 

“  ‘Soldiers  of  the  United  States  of  America  say  that  we  kill 
prisoners  of  war  or  do  them  some  other  harm.  Don’t  be  such 
greenhorns.  How  can  you  smart  Americans  believe  such  a  silly 
thing.’  ” 

COOPERATION  INSIDE  THE  LINES:  “DEFEATIST^  PROPAGANDA. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  creators  of  such  propaganda 
do  not  rely  on  their  own  unaided  influence  from  outside.  They 
cooperate  with  the  elements  at  home  which  are  always  opposed  to 
any  war.  The  pacifists,  the  anarchists,  the  disgruntled  political 
elements  have  worked,  more  or  less  unconsciously,  hand  in  hand  with 
the  German-Austrian  propagandists,  from  before  the  outbreak  of 
this  conflict. 

This  is  the  peculiar  encouragement  to  propaganda.  No  war 
has  ever  been  so  holy  as  to  win  the  approval  of  the  entire  nation. 
During  the  American  Devolution,  the  Tory  element  was  exceedingly 
large.  General  Washington  often  found  it  difficult  even  to  buy 
provisions.  He  almost  lost  his  post  as  general-in-chief  as  a  result 
of  the  Conway  Cabal,  a  form  of  propaganda.  During  the  war  of 
1812,  politics  almost  split  the  country  apart,  and  at  the  height 
of  the  Civil  War,  President  Lincoln  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
defeat  when  he  stood  for  re-election. 

In  France,  England  and  Italy  there  are  large  masses  of  persons 
opposed  to  the  national  cause.  This  is  equally  true  of  Germany, 
Austria,  Turkey  and  other  nationalities. 

These  disaffected  elements  furnish  a  fertile  soil  for  the  seeds 
of  propaganda.  They  can  easily  be  turned  from  passive  spectators 
of  the  agony  of  their  country,  to  active  opponents  of  its  military 
success. 


Against  the  Allies 


19 


There  is  also  in  every  population  a  certain  faint-hearted  element 
that  magnifies  every  check  into  a  failure,  every  strategic  side-step 
into  a  retreat,  every  retreat  into  a  disaster.  These  congenital  pes¬ 
simists  see  all  of  their  country’s  mistakes,  crimes,  disappointments 
and  failures,  and  none  of  its  achievements;  they  can  not  imagine 
that  the  enemy  has  also  his  ignorance,  terror,  error,  and  crime  to 
dishearten  him. 

General  Grant  learned  that  the  enemy  was  just  as  afraid  of  him 
as  he  was  of  the  enemy.  But  that  form  of  philosophy  is  not  uni¬ 
versal,  and  we  have  constantly  to  combat  the  timid  spirits  and  the 
irresolute.  They  start  panics  of  their  own  at  the  first  opportunity 
and  their  depression  is  dangerously  contagious.  In  Europe  this 
form  of  involuntary  treason  is  called  “defeatist  propaganda.” 

In  the  United  States  there  is  the  normal  percentage  of  these 
disconsolate  people,  also  an  extraordinarily  large  number  of  persons 
of  alien  birth  or  sympathy;  and  finally  a  multitude  of  citizens  so 
used  to  the  air  of  freedom  and  so  devoted  to  their  own  individual 
sovereignty  and  their  constitutional  prerogatives  that  they  will  not 
tolerate  any  discipline  or  coercion.  These  persons  prize  liberties 
rather  than  liberty,  and  they  form  a  most  dangerous  element. 

Varied  as  the  motives  may  be  of  those  who  refuse  assistance 
or  offer  resistance  to  the  unified  action  of  the  country,  they  are  all 
actual  enemies  of  the  national  success.  They  consume  supplies  and 
produce  nothing  toward  victory.  They  are  not  even  benevolently 
neutral ;  they  form  a  garrison  of  hostile  partisans  and  a  rallying 
point  and  an  encouragement  for  spies  and  enemies. 

BOLO  PASHA  AND  THE  BONNET  ROUGE. 

Paris  has  suffered  from  attacks  by  Zeppelins,  airships,  and  long- 
range  cannon.  It  has  suffered  more  from  propaganda  of  every 
sort.  Some  of  this  has  been  put  out  under  the  most  clever  disguise. 
Peculiarly  odious  was  the  unscrupulous  purchase  of  treason  in 
the  Bolo  Pasha  case.  A  more  contemptible  tool  has  rarely  been 
foisted  into  immortality.  This  international  figure  with  the  pic¬ 
turesque  name  of  Bolo  was  a  dentist  in  Marseilles  in  his  early  twen¬ 
ties,  later  a  lobster  merchant.  He  stole  his  partner’s  money  and 
wife  and  eloped  with  both  to  Spain.  Five  years  later  he  was  in 
Paris  and  soon  jailed  for  business  dishonesty.  He  robbed  the  niece 
of  his  landlord  of  her  dowry.  He  married  an  actress  at  Bordeaux 
and  deserted  her.  He  was  arrested  in  Buenos  Aires.  He  com- 


20 


Propaganda 


mitted  bigamy  and  married  the  widow  of  a  Bordeaux  wTine  merchant 
and  lost  her  money  in  investments. 

He  later  became  the  friend  and  financial  adviser  of  Abbas 
Hilmi,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  and  received  the  title  of  Pasha.  He 
was  associated  in  many  ventures  with  the  notorious  Senator  Hum¬ 
bert,  who  was  involved  with  him  in  the  use  of  German  money  for 
controlling  the  Paris  Journal.  % 

In  1914  Bolo  met  in  Cuba  Adolph  Pavenstedt,  now  interned, 
a  close  friend  of  Yon  Bernstorff.  They  came  to  New  York  and 
initiated  a  banking  scheme  that  fell  through.  Bolo  returned  to 
France.  He  had  spent  all  of  his  wife’s  fortune  except  an  inaccess¬ 
ible  trust  fund.  He  lived  on  the  income  from  that,  but  sought 
wider  fields. 

After  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  met  his  old  friend,  the  Khedive, 
in  Switzerland,  and  through  him  the  German  Minister,  Yon 
Jagow,  who  provided  a  fund  of  ten  million  marks  to  be  used  by 
Bolo  to  influence  the  French  press  for  a  premature  peace,  aiming  to 
detach  France  from  England. 

Bolo  returned  to  France,  where  one  Cavallini  brought  him  $400,- 
000  to  be  used  for  a  “defeatist”  and  “pacifist”  propaganda.  Bolo 
explained  to  the  curious  that  this  sum  was  the  repayment  of  a  loan 
he  had  made  to  the  Khedive. 

In  November,  1915,  Bolo  went  to  Switzerland  and  negotiated 
through  the  Khedive  with  several  German  agents.  The  Khedive 
stated  that  Bolo  represented  Herve,  publisher  of  La  Victoire , 
Joseph  Caillaux  and  others,  and  that  Bolo  was  to  transmit  moneys 
to  them.  The  Khedive  received  from  Germany  two  million  marks, 
which  he  turned  over  to  Bolo  to  fund  the  peace  propaganda. 

The  next  year  Bolo  came  to  the  United  States  with  a  letter 
from  Humbert  to  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  saying  that  he  came  to  see 
important  personages  and  would  deposit  a  million  francs  to  Hum¬ 
bert’s  account.  Actually  Bolo  seems  to  have  been  short  of  funds, 
and  to  have  had  a  credit  with  a  German  bank  of  only  $2,500. 

Bolo  met  Pavenstedt  again,  and  told  him  that  he  came  to  raise 
money  to  pay  his  debt  to  Humbert  and  also  to  buy  into  several 
small  journals.  He  began  negotiations  looking  toward  the  purchase 
in  Canada  of  large  supplies  of  print  paper.  He  met  many  prom¬ 
inent  men,  who  were  later  more  or  less  embarrassed  to  explain 
their  associations  with  him. 

He  protested  that  he  wanted  to  persuade  his  bleeding  country 
to  make  peace.  Pavenstedt  told  him  the  truth  when  he  said  that 


Against  the  Allies  21 

no  one  in  America  was  so  much  interested  in  this  as  the  German 
Ambassador. 

After  cabling  to  Yon  Jagow  and  many  conferences,  Yon  Bern- 
storff  arranged  the  deposit  of  sums  totaling  $1,683,500.  The  tele¬ 
grams  and  cablegrams  were  captured  by  the  United  States  officials. 
A  simple  code  was  used,  Count  Bernstortf  being  referred  to  as 
“Charles  Gledhill,”  the  Guaranty  Trust  Company  as  “Fred  Hee- 
ven,”  the  Foreign  Office  as  “William  Foxley.”  The  sums  of  money 
wrere  divided  by  one  thousand. 

Thus  Hugo  Schmidt  cabled  the  Deutsche  Bank  in  Berlin : 

“Your  wireless  received.  *  Paid  Charles  Gledhill  five  hundred 
through  Fred  Heeven.  Gledhill  requires  further  eleven  hundred 
dollars,  which  shall  pay  gradually.” 

This  meant,  “Paid  Bernstorff  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
Bernstortf  requires  further  eleven  hundred  thousand  dollars.” 

Bolo  invested  a  million  francs  in  the  Paris  Journal,  and  he, 
Caillaux  and  various  newspaper  editors  kept  up  a  vigorous  prop¬ 
aganda  to  the  effect  that  France  could  not  win  and  early  peace  was 
necessary. 

Caillaux  went  to  Italy  to  spread  this  idea  there. 

The  activities  of  these  propagandists  attracted  the  lightning  of 
French  indignation.  Bolo,  Caillaux  and  others  were  arrested  under 
charges  of  treason. 

The  Bolo  trial  opened  February  4,  1918,  in  Paris.  He  was  ac¬ 
cused  of  communicating  with  the  enemy  in  Switzerland,  receiving 
German  money  to  further  the  pacifist  movement,  and  receiving 
German  money  in  the  United  States  to  influence  French  newspapers, 
particularly  the  Journal. 

He  was  found  guilty.  His  co-defendant,  Cavallini,  was  also  sen¬ 
tenced  to  death,  but  was  in  prison  in  Italy  at  the  time  and  could 
not  be  reached.  At  the  time  of  this  writing  Caillaux  has  not  yet 
been  tried. 

Involved  with  the  Journal  was  a  paper  called  the  Bonnet  Bouge, 
whose  directors  were  also  charged  with  treason. 

The  Bonnet  Bouge  pretended  to  be  violently  patriotic.  It  was 
remarkable  for  a  violent  chauvinism  beginning  with  its  very  name, 
“The  Eed  Cap,”  meaning,  of  course,  the  Liberty  Cap  of  the  French 
Revolution. 

Though  Bolo  Pasha  was  a  propagandist  by  newspaper  and  by 
ingeniously  managed  peace  proposals,  the  military  importance  of 


I 


22  Propaganda 

his  activity  was  recognized  in  his  punishment:  He  was  stood  up 
against  a  wall  and  shot. 

The  easy  r™usition  from  such  propaganda  to  actual  spying  and 
the  gathering  and  transmitting  of  information  to  the  enemy  is  seen 
in  the  following  excerpts  from  reports  of  the  trial  of  confederates : 

“Paris,  May  3,  1918. — The  most  of  today’s  session  in  the  trial 
of  the  directors  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge,  the  defunct  socialist  and 
Germanophile  newspaper,  was  taken  up  with  consideration  of 
trips  to  Switzerland  by  M.  Yercasson,  one  of  the  accused  men,  in 
behalf  of  M.  Duval,  a  director  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge,  who  also  is 
on  trial.  M.  Germanain,  an  expert  accountant,  testified  that  Ver- 
casson  brought  from  Switzerland  475,000  francs  which  he  gave  to 
Duval.  He  said  that  Vercasson’s  operations  appeared  to  be  regu¬ 
lar  and  in  good  faith,  and  that  he  personally  benefited  to  the 
extent  of  25,000  francs  from  his  work. 

“The  close  relation  between  the  Bonnet  Rouge  case  and 
the  prosecution  of  Bolo  Pasha  was  established  when  Police  Com¬ 
missioner  Faralicq,  who  is  charged  with  the  investigation  of  the 
Bonnet  Rouge  affair,  testified  that  Abbas  Hilmi,  former  Khedive 
of  Egypt,  had  obtained  in  1916  a  complete  report  concerning  the 
conditions  existing  in  General  Sarrail’s  army  at  Saloniki. 

“A  man  called  Adda,  private  secretary  to  Yozen  Pasha,  came 
to  France  frequently  and  always  returned  with  important  mili¬ 
tary  information.  The  report  concerning  the  condition  at  Sa¬ 
loniki  was  full  and  complete,  showing  that  General  Sarrail’s 
army  was  unable  to  take  the  offensive,  giving  the  exact  number 
of  men  incapacitated  by  sickness  and  disease,  and  the  exact  losses 
in  recent  battles  in  Macedonia. 

“The  report  was  a  copy  of  a  document  sent  by  General  Sar- 
rail  to  the  French  Government  exposing  the  situation  and  asking 
for  reinforcements.  Mme.  Lewis,  former  stenographer  for  M. 
Marion,  assistant  manager  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge,  identified  the 
document,  which  she  typed  at  her  employer’s  request. 

“They  were  copies  of  two  letters  from  General  Sarrail  to  the 
minister  of  war,  two  telegrams  and  a  ten-page  letter  from  Captain 
Mathieu  to  M.  Paix-Seailles,  who  was  suspected  in  January  of 
having  given  important  military  information  to  unauthorized 
persons  and  was  tried  before  a  court-martial  concerning  the 
situation  at  Saloniki.  M.  Paix-Seailles  was  called  to  the  stand  and 
admitted  giving  the  documents  to  Miguel  Almereyda,  another  of 
the  accused  who  died  in  prison  before  the  trial  began. 

“Paris,  May  7. — Lieutenant  Marchand,  an  interpreter  in  the 
French  army  and  an  expert  in  German  propaganda,  was  the  prin¬ 
cipal  witness  at  the  trial  of  the  directors  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge 
today.  He  showed  the  similarity  between  the  policy  pursued  by 
the  Bonnet  Rouge  and  that  of  the  Gazette  of  Ardennes,  a  paper 
which  the  Germans  publish  in  the  occupied  districts  of  northern 
France,  using  the  French  language. 

“The  purpose  of  the  Gazette,  Lieutenant  Marchand  stated,  was 
to  influence  the  French  population  remaining  in  the  occupied 
districts.  Some  articles  which  the  censors  had  prevented  appear¬ 
ing  in  the  Bonnet  Rouge  nevertheless  appeared  in  the  paper 
issued  by  a  German  agency  at  Zurich. 

“Many  articles  that  appear?  1  in  'he  Gazette  and  were  re¬ 
printed  in  the  Bonnet  Rouge  showed  a  tendency  to  ridicule  the 


Against  the  Allies 


23 


idea  of  German  spies  working  in  France  to  discourage  soldiers 
and  dishearten  the  civilian  population.  Lieutenant  Marchand 
pointed  out  fifteen  different  press  campaigns  in  which  the 
Gazette,  the  Bonnet  Rouge  and  the  Germanophile  newspaper  at 
Zurich  all  used  the  same  arguments,  cited  the  same  facts,  and 
even  showed  the  same  style  of  composition  and  the  same  errors 
in  citation. 

“Paris,  May  11. — The  trial  entered  its  last  phases  today,  when 
Captain  Mornet,  the  prosecutor,  summed  up  his  case  for  the  State. 
Captain  Mornet  began  by  explaining  that  this  was  not  a  press 
trial,  but  an  affair  of  treason  and  relations  with  the  enemy.  He 
said  that  by  conversations  about  the  San  Stefano  Casino  Company 
with  Marx,  the  Mannheim  banker,  M.  Duval,  one  of  the  accused, 
had  been  drawn  little  by  little  into  treason,  receiving  money  from 
Marx  and  working  for  an  early  peace  between  France  and  Ger¬ 
many. 

“The  prosecutor  recited  the  history  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge,  re¬ 
calling  that  one  of  its  directors,  Miguel  Almareyda,  who  died 
before  the  trial  began,  had,  with  six  judicial  condemnations 
against  him,  received  40,000  francs  from  Joseph  Caillaux,  ex- 
Premier,  in  February,  1914.  The  Bonnet  Rouge,  he  said,  had 
violently  defended  Mme.  Caillaux  following  the  shooting  by  her 
of  Editor  Calmmette  in  March,  1914.  He  said  that  Almereyda 
had  formed  a  bodyguard  to  escort  M.  Caillaux  to  the  courtroom 
and  had  distributed  cards  of  admission  to  the  trial  of  Mme.  Cail¬ 
laux. 

“Captain  Mornet  read  articles  showing  the  peace  at  any  price 
policy  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge.  One  quotation  was: 

“  ‘President  Wilson’s  action  is  evidently  a  victory  for  those 
who  will  fight  to  the  bitter  end,  but  war  is  not  won  by  such  vic¬ 
tories.’ 

“The  connection  of  M.  Caillaux  with  the  present  case  was 
solely  examined  by  the  prosecutor,  who  said: 

“  ‘Marx  is  such  an  important  agent  of  Germany  that  when  the 
German  government  wished  to  enter  into  relations  or  renew  rela¬ 
tions,  with  the  French  ex-Premier,  who,  it  is  believed,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  was  favorable  to  it,  it  sent  two  documents  to  the  ex- 
Premier’s  Paris  address.  One  offered  an  appointment  and  the 
other  gave  the  address  of  Banker  Marx.  Both  were  seized  in  M. 
Caillaux’s  safe  in  a  Florence  bank.  The  first  read:  “Lipsher  not 
appearing  desirable  as  an  intermediary,  I  put  myself  at  your  dis¬ 
posal.  I  am  authorized  to  establish  relations  such  as  you  desire.” 
The  other  read:  “H.  A.  Marx,  care  of  Professor  Erbertz,  27  Stoer- 
nerstrasse,  Berne.” 

“  ‘I  think  I  am  entitled  to  identify  the  H.  A.  Marx  of  the  Cail¬ 
laux  affair  as  the  H.  A.  Marx  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge  affair.’ 

“Paris,  May  15. — Director  Duval  was  condemned  to  death  after 
only  a  half  hour’s  deliberation.  Marion  was  sentenced  to  ten 
years  at  hard  labor;  Landan  and  Goldsky,  two  writers,  to  eight 
years  each;  Joncla  to  five  years;  Jean  Leymarie,  director  of  the 
interior  ministry  under  Malvy  and  afterward  head  of  the  secret 
service,  to  two  years,  and  Vercasson  to  two  years. 

“Paris,  May  23. — The  trial  of  Sergeant  Paix-Seailles  and  Captain 
Mathieu  began.  They  were  court-martialed,  charged  with  divulg¬ 
ing  confidential  documents  belonging  to  the  War  Office. 

“Paix,  who  is  a  wealthy  man,  was  formerly  attached  to  the 
Ministry  of  Inventions  in  Paris,  and  Mathieu  was  an  orderly  offi- 


24 


Propaganda 


cer  to  General  Sarrail  when  the  latter  was  Commander-in-Chlef 
at  Saloniki. 

“The  judicial  inquiry,  in  its  preliminary  stages,  showed  that 
on  August  8th  last,  when  the  authorities  raided  the  house  of 
Almereyda,  the  notorious  chief  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge  gang,  who 
strangled  himself  with  his  bootlace  in  prison  shortly  after,  they 
found  among  his  papers  copies  of  five  important  confidential  let¬ 
ters  which  were  sent  by  Sarrail  between  March  and  June,  1916, 
to  Messimy,  who  was  then  War  Minister  in  the  Briand  Cabinet, 
and  Noulens,  President  of  the  Army  Committee. 

“There  were  also  copies  of  telegrams  from  Joffre,  then  Com¬ 
mander-in-chief,  and  Briand.  Paix  admitted  that  he  handed  these 
documents  to  Almereyda  for  the  purpose  of  using  them  in  a  press 
campaign  in  favor  of  Sarrail,  and  Mathieu  made  no  secret  of  the 
fact  that  it  was  he  who  handed  the  papers  to  Paix.  The  use 
which  Almereyda  made  of  the  documents  was  to  have  them 
copied  and  sent  by  one  of  the  Bonnet  Rouge  gang  to  Spain, 
whence  they  quickly  reached  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 

“It  is  alleged  that  the  documents  disclosed  important  informa¬ 
tion  in  regard  to  the  strength  of  the  Saloniki  army,  and  had  real 
influence  in  modifying  the  direction  of  the  campaign  on  that 
front.” 

Thus  we  see  demonstrated  what  may  always  be  expected,  and 
suspected,  that  the  propagandist  who  is  zealous  in  scattering  false¬ 
hoods  is  on  the  alert  to  pick  up  truths  of  value  to  the  enemy.  The 
spy  and  the  propagandist  have  the  same  end  and  ambition. 


CHAPTER  II. 


PROPAGANDA  AMONG  NEUTRAL  NATIONS. 

In  a  war  of  world-wide  magnitude,  such  a  thing  as  neutrality 
is  practically  impossible.  All  of  the  neutral  nations  have  their 
favorites  and  bet  on  them.  The  nearest  approach  to  neutrality 
is  a  wavering  from  one  side  to  the  other,  now  helping  this,  now 
that,  with  a  possibility  of  being  swung  all  the  way  over  to  one  side 
or  the  other  at  anv  time. 

Propaganda  has  a  vitally  important  role  to  play  here,  since  the 
capture  or  the  loss  of  a  neutral  nation,  however  small,  means  just 
so  much  increase  of  efficiency  or  difficulty  of  supply;  just  so  many 
troops  released  for  the  firing  line  or  withdrawn  from  it,  and  perhaps 
the  addition  of  a  considerable  army  of  reinforcements  or  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  that  army  in  the  enemy’s  line. 

Germany  promptly  established  her  centers  of  propaganda 
activity  in  all  the  neutral  nations.  They  have  been  expelled  from 
some  places  because  of  their  excess  of  zeal,  but  in  others  they  have 
been  allowed  to  work  almost  as  if  on  their  home  soil. 

Where  they  are  not  able  to  justify  the  acts  of  Germany,  they 
devote  their  energies  to  casting  ugly  light  on  the  motives  of  the 
Allies.  They  have  accomplished  much  when  they  have  prevented 
the  neutral  from  actually  declaring  war  on  Germany,  or  at  least 
severing  diplomatic  and  trade  relations. 

The  position  of  neutral  peoples  in  a  war  so  nearly  universal 
as  this  is  very  difficult.  Self-preservation  is  their  first  object,  and 
they  must  keep  the  future  in  mind.  Therefore,  in  all  neutral 
countries  the  opinion  of  the  officials  and  the  public  inevitably  swings 
toward  the  side  that  seems  likely  to  win  in  the  end. 

Many  will  feel  a  certain  sympathy  for  the  underdog,  but  the 
upper  dog  wins  the  respect  of  all,  and  a  desire  not  to  offend  him  or 
attract  his  hostile  interest.  Once  the  belief  obtains  in  a  neutral 
nation  that  the  United  States  and  its  Allies  are  bound  to  lose,  this 
neutral  nation  will  endeavor  to  curry  favor  with  the  enemy,  assist 
him  in  numberless  ways,  give  him  help  in  commercial  affairs  and 
supplies  and  hamper  us. 

This  has  a  direct  and  hazardous  influence  on  our  military 
progress. 

25 


Propaganda 


THE  CENTRAL  BUREAU  IN  SPAIN. 

In  Spain  and  from  Spain,  Germany  has  carried  on  perhaps 
her  most  vigorous  activity.  There  have  been  unsupported  charges 
of  submarine  bases  near  these  shores,  and  countless  proofs 
of  the  use  of  the  country  as  an  intermediary  in  postal  and  financial 
transactions.  Of  Spain  as  a  central  bureau  of  propaganda,  there 
has  been  no  doubt. 

It  has  been  important  to  keep  Spain  from  joining  the  Allies, 
and  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  world  of  Spanish  America,  in  which 
lies  so  much  of  Germany’s  commercial  future.  The  military  value 
of  this  stronghold  makes  Spain  a  Gibraltar  of  German  propaganda. 
From  there  she  has  sent  out  emissaries  and  literature  broadcast. 
Even  the  Bedouins  of  Morocco  are  not  neglected,  and  a  printing 
press  is  kept  busy  at  Mellila,  issuing  pamphlets  for  circulation 
among  the  Arabs  in  the  French  colony  with  the  object  of  persuad¬ 
ing  them  to  revolt,  thus  compelling  the  withdrawal  of  French 
troops  from  the  front. 

In  Barcelona  the  Germans  have  collected  a  few  French  deserters 
to  help  publish  in  French  a  paper  called  Truth,  in  which  they  drag 
the  French  Government  and  Army  through  the  mire.  The  paper  is 
distributed  free  to  the  street  vendors  who  consequently  flood  the 
city  with  it. 

Spain  is  naturally  eager  to  side  with  the  victorious  party  to 
this  conflict.  Germany  has  spent  millions  of  dollars  to  convince 
her  that  the  Allies  could  not  win.  An  example  of  her  ruthless 
methods  is  seen  in  the  work  of  such  German  papers  as  Deutsche 
Warte  (i.  e.,  the  German  Beacon),  published  at  Barcelona.  On 
November  10,  1917,  the  following  article  appeared  under  great  black 
headlines : 


“great  german  u-boat  victory! 

“News  comes  from  Halifax  via  New  York  that  the  North 
American  battleship  ‘Texas’  and  other  units  of  the  North  Ameri¬ 
can  fleet  were  sunk  by  &  German  U-boat  75  miles  from  the 
Island  of  Guernsey  and  120~miles  from  Cherbourg  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Channel,  the  latter  part  of  September  of  last  year.  11,000 
men  found  their  death  in  the  waves,  only  3,260  soldiers  and  2,585 
men  of  the  crew  were  saved. 

“Editor’s  Note:  The  ‘Texas,’  27,400  t.,  was  one  of  the  largest 
ships  of  the  N.  American  fleet,  and  was  evidently  serving  as 
guard  ship  for  a  larger  Troop  Transport  with  other  units  when 
she  fell  a  victim  to  the  U-boat.  The  ship  was  equipped  with  10 
guns  of  36,  6-21  of  12,  7-4  of  4,  7-2  of  3.7  cent.  She  had  four  sub¬ 
marine  torpedo  tubes,  engines  of  32,000  H.  P.,  and  a  velocity  of 


27 


Among  Neutral  Nations 

21  knots.  She  was  launched  May  18th,  1912,  and  put  in  service 
shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war.” 

Americans  know  that  the  story  is  false,  but  the  Spaniards  can 
not  be  expected  to  investigate  such  canards.  In  view  of  the  im¬ 
mense  sums  spent  by  Germans  on  propaganda  and  the  compara¬ 
tively  small  sums  spent  by  the  Allies,  little  effort  is  made  to  deny 
them. 

When  the  Tuscania  was  actually  sunk  the  Deutsche  Warte  was 
not  satisfied  to  publish  the  sufficiently  important  U-boat  success, 
nor  even  to  exaggerate  the  number  of  soldiers  lost.  It  added  the 
statement  that  another  transport  even  larger  and  carrying  even 
more  troops  was  destroyed  at  the  same  time  with  the  total  loss  of 
all  on  board.  It  was  announced  that  the  British  and  Americans 
had  suppressed  this  news  altogether  and  given  out  a  minimized 
story  of  the  Tuscania’s  destruction. 

This  story  was  published  in  Mexico  by  the  Deutsche  Zeitung 
and  in  many  other  Spanish-American  countries.  A  general  survey 
of  the  propaganda  war  for  Spain  is  given  by  the  Review  of  Re¬ 
views  for  June,  1918,  in  the  following  resume  of  an  Italian  article : 

“The  various  aspects  of  Spain’s  neutrality  in  the  war  are 
passed  in  review  by  Signor  Romolo  Giovannetti  in  Nuova  An- 
tologia  (Rome).  In  common  with  the  belligerent  countries, 
Spain  has  suffered  greatly  from  the  inevitable  dislocation  of  the 
economic  fabric.  Moreover,  while  prices  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  have  doubled  or  even  trebled,  there  has  been  little  compensa¬ 
tion  for  this  through  the  stimulation  of  special  industries,  as 
has  been  the  case  with  the  countries  engaged  in  the  war.  An 
added  trouble  has  been  a  revival  of  the  agitation  among  Cata¬ 
lonians  and  Basques  in  favor  of  greater  independence  or  quasi¬ 
autonomy. 

“The  uninterrupted  propaganda  carried  on  by  the  Germans 
in  favor  of  the  cause  of  the  Central  Powers  and  of  Spanish 
neutrality  has  always  found  an  echo  with  the  Spanish  people 
and  it  can  not  be  denied  that  the  Germans  have  displayed  much 
greater  practical  sense  in  this  activity  than  have  the  Entente 
Powers. 

“From  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  they  organized  in 
Spain  a  number  of  active  committees,  not  only  for  propaganda 
work,  but  also  for  giving  aid  to  those  who  were  suffering  from 
the  effects  of  the  war,  and  this  has  earned  for  them  the  sym¬ 
pathies  of  thousands  of  Spaniards. 

“Germany  has  not  hesitated  to  spend  money  freely;  her  pro¬ 
paganda  in  Spain  is  said  to  have  cost  her  $60,000,000.  Not  only 
this,  but  she  has  sent  her  best  diplomatic  agents,  her  best  com¬ 
mercial  agents,  her  best  military  attaches  and  spies  of  all  orders. 

“Given  the  neglect  of  Spain  by  the  Allies,  and  the  prejudices 
and  misunderstandings  that  already  existed,  nothing  short  of  an 
equally  active  counter-propaganda  could  have  overcome  the 
German  influence.  But  the  Entente  Powers,  placing  their  depen- 


28 


Propaganda 


dence  upon  the  personal  sympathies  of  the  King  and  the  Queen, 
have  only  spent  about  $20,000  in  opposition  to  the  $60,000,000 
of  Teuton  money. 

“France  alone,  which  was  the  first  nation  to  understand  the 
necessity  for  effort  in  this  direction,  sent  into  Spain  thousands 
of  copies  of  propaganda  literature,  composed  to  suit  the  Spanish 
trend  of  thought.  As  almost  all  Spaniards  are  professedly 
Catholic,  they  were  inclined  to  look  upon  republican  France  as 
a  land  of  Jacobins  and  libertines,  a  land  that  had  fallen  a  prey 
to  anarchy  and  was  destined  to  a  sad  downfall.  In  view  of  this 
hostile  attitude  of  the  Spanish  people,  the  pamphlets  issued  by 
the  French  treated  the  war  from  a  strictly  religious  standpoint. 
Thus  Monsignor  Bardrillart,  who  has  recently  been  publicly 
congratulated  for  his  propaganda  work  by  the  French  Govern¬ 
ment,  wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled  ‘The  German  War  and  Cath¬ 
olicism,”  which  had  a  large  circulation  in  Spain,  as  had  also 
the  theological  study  by  the  Archbishop  of  Nice,  ‘France  and 
Germany  and  the  Christian  Doctrine  Regarding  War.’  But 
these  publications  have  had  little  lasting  effect. 

“The  Spanish  press,  with  the  exception  of  certain  liberal 
organs,  has  been  favorable  to  the  Central  Powers  from  the  outset 
of  the  war.  A  country  like  Spain,  exhausted  by  the  struggles 
of  the  past  century,  and  longing  for  peace,  for  a  regenerating 
peace,  offered  a  splendid  field  for  the  German  propaganda,  and 
the  Germans  have  not  failed  to  utilize  the  opportunity  given 
them  by  the  neglect  of  this  land  on  the  part  of  the  Entente.” 

The  situation  in  Spain  is  discussed  with  much  detail  in  an 
article  by  Isaac  F.  Marcosson  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  for 
March  16,  1918,  from  which  much  of  importance  may  well  be 
quoted : 


“No  other  Continental  country  presents  such  a  striking  ex¬ 
ample  of  German  efficiency  in  molding  public  opinion  as  Spain. 
Ask  any  man  you  meet  on  the  streets  or  in  a  club  at  Barcelona 
or  Madrid  who  is  winning  the  war  and  he  at  once  replies,  ‘Ger¬ 
many,  of  course.’  Go  to  a  restaurant  or  a  seaside  resort  and  you 
hear  German  on  all  sides.  Make  a  remark  in  English,  and  Teu¬ 
tonic  ears  prick  up,  sharp  eyes  focus  you — you  are  a  marked 
man.  To  quote  an  Englishman  whom  I  met  at  San  Sebastian: 
‘Germany  has  lost  all  her  colonies  except  Spain.’ 

“I  went  to  Spain  from  Italy  and  therefore  had  an  unusual 
opportunity  to  get  a  contrast  in  German  exploitative  methods. 
In  Italy — a  nation  at  war.  with  the  Kaiser — the  boche  propaganda 
is  sly,  secret  and  insidious.  Officially  under  the  ban,  it  works  in 
a  mysterious  way  its  destruction  to  attain. 

“In  Spain,  on  the  other  hand' — a  country  outside  the  war — the 
German  educational  campaign  is  in  full  and  open  swing — defiant, 
aggressive,  contemptuous.  It  not  only  assails  American  character 
and  institutions,  but,  what  is  also  important  to  us,  it  has  de¬ 
veloped  during  the  last  twelve  months  a  bitter  offensive  against 
American  business  that,  unless  combated  at  once,  will  impair  our 
hard-won  and  none  too-secure  commercial  footing  there. 

“You  cannot  spend  many  hours  in  Spain  without  discovering 
that  Germany  has  ‘got  over’  her  message.  In  the  light  of  the 
unutterable  blunderings  of  Bernstorff,  Dumba,  Dernberg,  Von 
Papen  and  Boy-Ed  in  the  United  States,  this  performance  seems 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


29 


all  the  more  remarkable.  Analyze  it  and  you  find  that  the  one 
reason  why  the  German  has  intrenched  himself  so  firmly  in 
Spain  is  that  he  has  regarded  his  propaganda  as  nothing  more  or 
less  than  salesmanship.  He  is  a  past  master  in  the  world-com¬ 
merce  game.  Good  will  for  his  Emperor  and  his  national  aims  has 
been  sold  just  like  boots,  razors,  machinery  or  shoes,  and  with 
every  selling  method  known  to  the  scientific  disposition  of  mer¬ 
chandise.  The  German  is  a  good  salesman. 

“Why  is  Germany  so  keen  about  having  the  friendship  and 
support  of  Spain?  You  do  not  have  to  search  very  long  for  the 
answer.  When  the  war  is  over  she  will  need  an  unassailable 
social  and  commercial  jumping  off  place.  She  will  have  to  get  in 
out  of  the  wet  somewhere  because  it  will  be  raining  anti-Ger¬ 
manism  for  a  good  while  after  peace  is  declared.  She  will  re¬ 
quire  a  country  where  her  industry  will  be  a  going  concern  the 
moment  that  an  armistice  puts  a  stop  to  fighting.  This  will 
enable  her  to  stamp  ‘Made  in  Spain’  on  her  wares  and  dispose 
of  them  in  markets  that  will  be  hostile  to  any  products  with  the 
Germanic  trade-mark.  That  mark  will  be  regarded  in  many 
quarters  as  the  brand  of  a  commercial  Cain.  Spain  is  part  of  a 
vast  productive  scheme  that  includes  Holland  and  Switzerland. 

“Economic  mastery  of  Spain,  however,  has  peculiar  advan¬ 
tages.  It  means  a  step  toward  the  conquest  of  the  Mediterranean, 
which  would  be  a  powerful  link  in  the  chain  of  a  world-wide  com¬ 
mercial  control  and  a  definite  weapon  against  France. 

“Still  another  and  equally  vital  reason  that  comes  straight 
home  to  us  is  that  Spain  and  South  America  are  closely  linked. 
Though  the  Latin-American  republics  are  far  removed  and  rep¬ 
resent  a  totally  different  idea  in  national  government,  they  still 
regard  Spain  as  the  mother  country  and  take  their  pleasures  and 
fashions  from  her. 

“If  you  know  anything  about  German  economic  penetration 
you  also  know  that  its  conquest  of  trade  is  merely  one  facet  of  a 
many-sided  ambition.  German  capital  is  not  only  the  most  exacting 
in  the  world  but  likewise  the  most  political.  Just  as  every  German 
salesman  anywhere  on  the  globe  is  a  secret  agent  for  his  govern¬ 
ment,  so  is  each  step  in  the  development  of  Teutonic  foreign 
trade  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  ‘For  Kaiser  and  Country.’ 

“Two  things  impressed  me  forcibly  after  I  had  crossed  the 
frontier  into  Spain:  One  was  white  bread,  the  first  I  had  seen  in 
months;  the  other  was  a  German  salesman  at  the  little  station  at 
Portbou,  who  scrutinized  my  fellow  passengers — they  were  nearly 
all  neutrals — with  eagle  and  almost  malevolent  eyes.  These  inci¬ 
dents  revealed  two  important  facts  in  Spain  today:  The  abundant 
supply  of  white  bread  showed  that  the  country  was  eating 
the  bread  of  peace;  the  German  salesman  doing  duty  at  the 
border  proved  that  the  German  commercial  emissary  was  like¬ 
wise  a  German  Government  agent.  Since  there  are  approximately 
80,000  Germans  in  Spain  you  get  some  idea  of  the  army  of  press 
agents,  propagandists  and  imperial  well-wishers  that  Germany 
has  on  the  job.  In  a  population  of  20,000,000  they  are  an  effective 
force. 

“There  were  nearly  10,000  Germans  in  Spain  before  the  war. 
This  number  was  increased  by  the  travelers  caught  on  the  wing 
at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  by  soldiers  and  civilians  from  Kam- 
erun,  by  the  exodus  from  Portugal  when  that  country  went  to 
war,  and  by  many  others  who  came  over  from  the  United  States 
to  help  the  cause.  No  matter  where  they  came  from,  they  begar 
to  study  Spanish  the  moment  they  entered  Spain.  Here  you  get 
one  of  the  keys  to  successful  German  penetration. 


30 


Propaganda 


•  “Wherever  you  find  German  propaganda  in  Europe  or  South 
America  you  also  find  an  effective  line  of  selling  talk.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  German  business  and  politics  are  so  closely 
related  that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  them.  In  other  words. 
Germany’s  business  is  politics  and  her  politics  business.  The 
Fatherland  always  gets  a  dividend  out  of  the  work  of  her  sons. 

“With  few  exceptions  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  country 
are  pro-German,  and  not  for  their  health.  One  of  the  favorite 
ways  of  obtaining  control  of  a  Spanish  newspaper  is  illustrated 
by  this  incident:  About  six  months  before  the  war  a  certain 
Madrid  journal  bought  a  complete  mechanical  equipment  from  a 
leading  German  manufacturing  concern.  No  bill  was  sent.  Three 
months  after  the  war  began  the  proprietor  casually  mentioned 
the  fact  to  the  German  machinery  agent  in  Madrid,  who  re¬ 
plied:  ‘Forget  the  bill!  We  are  in  the  same  cause  now.’ 

“Another  accelerator  of  opinion  is  that  well-known  speeder-up 
of  newspaper  enthusiasm  known  as  the  advertising  contract. 
Though  scores  of  German  firms  who  formerly  advertised  heavily 
are  now  unable  to  get  their  products  into  Spain,  their  advertising 
goes  on  just  the  same;  and  what  is  more  important,  it  is  being 
paid  for. 

“When  Germany  captures  the  little  village  of  X  it  is  spread 
all  over  the  front  pages.  Allied  victories  get  scant  notice.  Under 
special  instructions  from  Berlin  the  Spanish  Germanophile  news¬ 
papers  play  up  the  submarine  campaign.  Read  the  Spanish  news¬ 
papers  without  knowledge  of  what  is  going  on  and  you  would 
think  that  the  British  mercantile  marine  is  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea. 

“This  highly  organized  campaign  must  be  financed.  Where  does 
the  money  come  from?  Until  we  went  to  war  a  great  deal  of  it 
was  shipped  from  the  United  States  on  credits  telegraphed  from 
Berlin:  As  soon  as  we  entered  hostilities  this  shipment  of  gold 
ceased.  So  much  had  been  sent,  however,  that  Germany,  for 
the  present  at  least,  has  ample  funds  with  which  to  continue  her 
work.  Any  shortage  can  be  supplied  from  the  German  banks  in 
South  America,  which  are  easily  accessible  from  Spain.  If  these 
fail  it  is  always  easy  for  a  so-called  Spanish  firm  in  New  York  to 
send  funds  to  its  correspondent  in  Barcelona,  and  these  funds 
in  turn  find  their  way  sooner  or  later  to  the  German  Embassy 
in  Madrid,  which  is  the  box  office  of  the  whole  German  move¬ 
ment. 

.  “This  whole  network  of  espionage  and  propaganda  leads  to 
one  portal — the  gateway  of  business.  The  Germans  in  Spain  realize 
that  the  war  must  end  some  day.  Even  into  their  brazen  con¬ 
sciousness  is  being  soaked  the  realization  that  it  will  not  end 
their  way.  Their  commerce  must  go  on  regardless  of  the  result. 
Nowhere  outside  the  Fatherland — save  possibly  in  Switzerland — 
is  it  more  important  that  it  should  be  a  productive  institution 
than  in  Spain,  for  reasons  that  I  have  already  mentioned.  What 
is  she  doing? 

“The  whole  German  propaganda  in  Spain  is  flavored  with 
insinuation  aimed  to  shake  confidence  in  the  Allies.  I  overheard 
a  German,  speaking  in  German  to  a  Spaniard,  make  this  remark: 

“  *  Isn’t  it  too  bad  that  there  is  so  much  discord  among  the 
Allies?  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  France  is  already  angry 
because  the  Americans  are  not  fighting.  Pershing  and  Haig  have 
had  a  serious  disagreement  about  policy.  There  is  no  harmony.’ 

“A  favorite  German  innuendo  relates  to  what  is  alleged  to  be 
the  friction  between  England  and  France.  As  in  Italy,  the 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


31 


effort  is  made  to  create  an  impression  that  the  United  States  is 
being  used  to  save  the  face  of  the  Allies.  The  pro-German  press 
prints  this  libel,  and  millions  of  the  people  believe  what  they 
read. 

“All  the  Allies  are  in  the  same  boat.  France  is  pictured  as 
preparing  to  follow  the  Napoleonic  invasion  of  the  Peninsula; 
Portugal  is  to  annex  several  provinces  in  the  west;  Great  Britain 
is  to  inaugurate  a  campaign  of  conquest  from  Gibraltar.  It  is 
all  grist  in  the  mill  of  misinformation. 

“Uncle  Sam  and  John  Bull  are  pilloried  side  by  side.  The 
Germans  continually  harp  on  the  British  possession  of  Gibraltar, 
using  the  cry  ‘Gibraltar  for  the  Spanish!’  They  refer  to  us  as 
‘Yankee  despoilers.’ 

“Here  is  a  characteristic  example  of  how  the  German  seeks 
to  poison  the  Spanish  mind  against  the  United  States:  A  few 
months  before  I  reached  Spain  there  appeared  in  the  Madrid 
ABO .  the  leading  metropolitan  pro-German  newspaper,  a  spe¬ 
cial  dispatch  from  its  correspondent  in  New  York.  It  stated  in 
substance  that  in  the  effort  to  stimulate  recruiting  the  United 
States  Government  had  displayed  a  machine  gun  captured  from 
the  Spanish  in  Cuba  in  front  of  a  recruiting  office  in  New  York 
City.  The  article  further  stated  that  this  gun  stood  on  a  Spanish 
flag  and  bore  a  placard  saying:  ‘Enlist  for  the  war.  Remember 
the  Maine  and  Spain!’ 

“Of  course  this  article  created  widespread  indignation.  The 
situation  became  so  acute  that  Ambassador  Willard  cabled  to  the 
State  Department  and  got  an  official  denial  of  the  incident,  which 
was  printed  in  friendly  journals.  The  ABC ,  however,  refused 
to  publish  it.  Like  most  other  corrections,  however,  it  had  no 
effect.  The  damaging  item  is  always  the  one  that  is  read  and 
remembered. 

“This  incident  shows  how  bitter  is  the  anti-American  cam¬ 
paign  and  to  what  extent  the  Germans  will  go.  The  article  was 
signed  by  the  regular  New  York  correspondent  of  the  ABC  and 
was  presumably  a  cablegram.  If  the  United  States  Government 
permits  such  matter  to  be  passed  there  is  something  wrong  with 
the  censorship. 

“Attacks  on  President  Wilson  appear  almost  daily  in  the 
press.  Let  me  present  three  extracts  from  La  Tribuna  of  Madrid, 
one  of  the  leading  pro-German  publications.  The  first,  which 
deals  with  the  President’s  reply  to  the  Pope’s  peace  offer,  is  as 
follows: 

“  ‘In  my  last  article  I  gave  a  brief  account  of  the  horrible 
crime  committed  by  Wilson  against  Nicaragua.  If  this  were  not 
more  than  enough  to  show  that  the  Yankee  President  is  disquali¬ 
fied  in  law  and  in  equity  to  speak  to  us  Europeans  in  such  words 
as  he  uses  in  his  answer  to  the  Pope — if  the  moral  opinion  of 
the  world  had  not  been  excited  against  the  cynicism  and  un¬ 
equaled  perversities  of  Wilson,  who,  though  on  trial  for  lesc- 
humanite,  has  tried  to  constitute  himself  the  judge  of  Europe 
and  America,  unfortunately  there  still  exist,  to  the  shame  of 
humanity  and  the  dishonor  of  civilization,  other  monstrous  deeds 
done  by  Wilson,  against  which  the  world  has  not  protested. 
*  *  *  No;  we  must  tear  the  mask  from  the  hypocrite,  Wilson.’ 

“The  second  is  equally  vituperative,  and  reads: 

“  ‘After  having  carefully  examined  the  sinister  chapters  of 
Yankee  Imperialistic  History,  each  and  every  one  of  which  is  a 
crime  whose  principal  author  is  the  actual  President  Wilson,  our 
heart  rebels  against  this  man,  against  this  Puritan  who  has  the 
barefaced  insolence  to  appear  as  a  mediator  between  nations. 


32 


Propaganda 


This  is  his  role  in  his  speeches  and  proclamations,  but  his  deeds 
are  those  of  brute  force,  of  war  without  quarter,  of  inconceivable 
extermination  and  devastation.  Blushing  at  the  sight  of  the 
repulsive  creature,  we  ask  ourselves  the  question  whether  the 
moral  sense  of  humanity  has  been  perverted  when  it  listens  to 
the  words  of  the  false  and  evil  Wilson.’ 

“Next  comes  this  pleasantry,  which  deals  with  our  ‘crime  in 
Mexico’: 

“  ‘Is  there  a  reader  in  Spain  who  does  not  know  that  Mexico 
has  for  long  years  been  to  the  utmost  a  victim  of  the  United 
States?  California,  Texas  and  other  Aztec  lands  bear  continual 
witness  to  this.  And  the  devastation  and  affliction  of  the  Mexican 
Republic  in  these  last  years,  from  the  fall  of  Porfirio  Diaz  till 
the  nomination  of  Carranza — who  can  doubt  that  these  lie  heav¬ 
ily  on  the  conscience  of  Wilson?  *  *  * 

“  ‘And  we  feel  that  in  the  hour  of  death  Wilson’s  last  vision 
will  be  that  of  Mexico  in  ruins  through  his  guilt,  a  desert  and  a 
graveyard;  he  may  close  his  eyes,  he  may  try  to  brush  aside  with 
his  trembling  hand  the  horrible  picture;  nevertheless  he  will  see 
the  ruins  of  smoking  towns,  temples  profaned  and  starving  cities! 
He  will  see  pass  the  long  procession  of  the  murdered  dead,  he  will 
hear  the  wails  of  widows  and  suffering  orphans,  of  violated  nuns 
and  virgins,  he  will  hear  the  sobbing  cries  of  a  whole  nation  suf¬ 
fering  in  a  Yankee  holocaust.’ 

'Germany  leaves  no  ground  uncovered.  All  visitors  to  Spain 
of  Allied  citizenship  are  watched  from  the  moment  they  arrive. 
They  are  under  the  eye  of  a  chain  of  agents  who  are  in  close  and 
continuous  communication.  Many  of  these  agents  ride  on  the 
trains,  sharing  compartments  with  neutrals  or  enemy  aliens,  pil¬ 
fering  packages  and  opening  baggage  whenever  possible.  I  speak 
from  personal  experience,  because  I  was  under  scrutiny  from  the 
time  I  crossed  the  frontier  until  I  left.  On  two  occasions  one  of 
my  bags  was  opened.  Fortunately  all  my  papers  were  elsewhere. 

“Every  hotel  of  any  consequence  in  the  larger  cities  has  in  its 
employ  at  least  one  member  of  the  German  espionage  organiza¬ 
tion.  Sometimes  he  masquerades  as  a  guide  attached  to  the  hotel 
staff,  who  is  employed  by  the  guests.  In  this  way  he  finds  out 
who  they  are  and  what  they  are  doing.  In  the  majority  of  cases, 
however,  he  is  a  porter  or  a  waiter.  As  porter  he  has  access  to 
the  baggage.  *  *  * 

“What  we  need  most  in  Spain  today  are  live  and  sophisticated 
propagandists  in  the  shape  of  energetic  Americans  who  can  speak 
Spanish  and  who  can  convince  the  Spaniard  through  the  quality 
of  their  goods  and  the  efficiency  of  their  selling  methods  that 
his  business  bread  in  the  future  should  be  buttered  with  the 
Uncle  Sam  article  instead  of  the  Kaiser’s  brand.  Like  nearly 
everything  else  in  this  world  it  gets  down  to  salesmanship.” 

The  New  York  Herald  of  July  7,  1918,  contained  an  interesting 
account  of  other  forms  of  German  propaganda  from  Spain: 

“Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  especially  since  the 
United  States  entered  the  conflict  the  German  propagandamills  have 
been  working  overtime  in  Spain  and  have  fairly  deluged  that 
country  with  literature,  picture  post  cards,  picture  pamphlets  and 
posters  as  well  as  inspired  newspaper  articles  designed  to  excite 
anti-Ally  feeling  and  to  arouse  a  tremendous  respect  and  fear  of 
Germany  among  the  Spanish  people. 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


33 


“No  part  of  the  population  is  overlooked  in  these  appeals.  Even 
the  children  have  their  share,  and  a  considerable  one  at  that,  in  the 
far  reaching  designs  of  the  German  propagandists. 

“Ostensibly  for  the  amusement  of  children,  little  picture  books 
by  the  hundreds  are  issued  by  German  publishers  in  Spain.  The  sub¬ 
jects  of  these  books  are  all  connected  with  the  war.  The  pamph¬ 
lets  are  made  up  of  a  series  of  gaudily  colored  cartoons  such  as 
would  appeal  to  children  because  of  their  bright  colors  and  the 
grotesque  and  exaggerated  figures  in  the  compositions. 

“Naturally  what  a  child  looks  at  and  likes  the  parent  examines, 
and  the  parent  then  discovers  that  the  bright  colored  little  book  is 
not  a  child’s  volume  at  all.  Instead  it  is  an  anti-Ally  document 
filled  from  cover  to  cover  with  scurrilous  and  often  indecent 
cartoons  which  set  forth  the  sins  of  the  Allies  in  the  past  and 
present  the  different  members  of  the  allied  group  as  infinitely 
more  grasping  and  imperialistic  than  the  sainted  Germany. 

“One  series  of  such  little  books,  called  ‘Kings  Without  Crowns,’ 
shows  the  monarchs  of  the  world  who  have  been  deprived  of  their 
power  either  temporarily  or  for  all  time  by  the  march  of  events. 
John  Bull  is  shown  holding  a  pistol  at  Constantine’s  head  with 
France  assisting.  In  this  volume  the  noble  and  disinterested 
Constantine  is  pictured  as  refusing  the  gold  of  the  piglike  John 
Bull.  Later  Constantine  is  seen  leaving  his  kingdom,  while  the 
overbearing  John  Bull  bullies  him  off  the  scene,  the  crown  of 
Constantine  under  his  arm. 

“On  the  cover  of  the  Belgium  book  King  Albert  is  pictured 
«  wearing  tights  and  a  military  hat  and  bearing  a  lantern  like  Diog¬ 
enes  in  his  search  for  an  honest  man.  On  one  page  of  this  volume 
the  innocent  German  soldiers  are  shown  advancing  into  Belgium 
on  their  entirely  peaceful  mission,  in  which  they  are  interrupted 
by  wicked  Belgian  snipers.  On  the  opposite  page,  to  show  that 
Germany  has  always  been  the  misunderstood  victim  of  the  coun¬ 
tries  she  has  invaded,  the  Russian  Cossacks  are  pictured  riding 
down  the  German  population.  On  the  last  page,  in  order  to  drive 
home  to  the  Spanish  people  the  lesson  that  although  Germany 
is  always  good,  well  intentioned  and  long  suffering,  she  insists 
on  her  rights  in  the  end,  a  picture  is  shown  of  a  beautiful  and 
healthy  German  soldier  kicking  King  Albert  out  of  Belgium  while 
his  crown  falls  off  his  head. 

“This  last  picture  is  by  way  of  a  gentle  hint  to  Spain  on  what 
may  happen  to  any  country  which  is  too  fussy  about  German  in¬ 
vasion. 

“In  the  Serbian  book  John  Bull  isshownlurkingbehind  acurtain 
with  Peter  of  Serbia  during  thecommission  of  the  crime  of  Sarajevo. 
Just  to  throw  a  little  bouquet  at  an  ally,  the  German  cartoonist 
has  depicted  a  beautiful  gold  and  white  Austrian  soldier  pulling 
King  Peter  by  the  ear  and  wielding  a  very  long  whip  in  the 
next  picture. 

“Nicholas  of  Montenegro  having  dared  to  defy  the  glorious  Teu¬ 
tonic  armies  next  comes  under  the  heel  of  their  boot  and  John  Bull 
is  shown  yelling  ‘Murder!’  and  ‘Fire!’  in  the  picture  when  Nich¬ 
olas  waves  the  peace  flag  at  the  Teutonic  powers.  In  the  last 
picture  Nicholas  is  led  away  in  chains,  with  Great  Britain  and 
France  as  his  captors. 

“Ferdinand of  Roumaniahavingchosentoclean  JohnBull’s  boots 
next  feels  the  wrath  of  the  all  powerful  German,  and  later  is 
seen  leaving  his  kingdom  as  a  vagabond  while  the  allies  sneer  at 
him  from  the  side  lines. 


34 


Propaganda 


“In  the  last  book  of  kings  John  Bull  is  shown  digging  the 
Tsar’s  grave,  and  in  the  last  picture  the  Tsar,  in  patched  gar¬ 
ments,  is  leaving  the  scene  while  England  and  France  look  on 
smiling. 

“These  little  volumes  and  many  of  a  like  kind  are  meant  to  ap¬ 
peal  to  people  who  do  not  know  how  to  read  or  do  not  care  to  do  so 
and  who  can  assimilate  ideas  much  more  readily  from  pictures. 

“Another  class  of  propagandist  literature  meant  for  persons  who 
are  fond  of  reading  but  not  particularly  discriminating  is  in  the 
form  of  novelettes.  These  are,  in  fact,  stories  having  plots,  love 
interest,  adventure  interest,  plenty  of  action  and  sentimental  or 
exciting  dialogue  like  ordinary  stories,  but  underlying  the  ro¬ 
mance  or  adventure  there  is  the  propaganda.  The  hero  must 
usually  be  a  Teuton  and  the  heroine  Spanish  or  the  hero  Span¬ 
ish  and  the  heroine  German.  Necessarily  the  villainous  char¬ 
acters  of  the  piece  are  members  of  one  of  the  allied  nations,  and 
the  story  as  a  whole  is  based  on  a  plot  which  displays  the  cu¬ 
pidity,  cruelty,  ignorance  and  generally  ignoble  qualities  of  the 
British,  French,  Italians  or  Americans. 

“Uncle  Sam’s  imperialism  as  shown  in  Puerto  Rico  and  the  Ph.il- 
ippines  and  in  the  operation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  much  dwelt 
upon  and  the  Allies  are  pictured  in  blackface  standing  in  a  pool  of 
the  mud  of  conquest  as  an  arraignment  of  their  imperialistic 
tendencies. 

“An  example  of  the  articles  inspired  by  the  German  propa¬ 
gandists  published  in  some  of  the  Spanish  newspapers  bitterly 
derides  the  help  furnished  to  the  Allies  by  the  United  States: 

“  ‘France  awaits  the  help  of  the  Yankees  with  her  eyes  on  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from  where  the  modern  argonauts  are  coming,  the 
warriors  that  will  start  a  new  phase  in  the  great  human  tragedy 
and  will  decide  the  future  of  humanity. 

“  ‘They  come  with  the  feelings  of  the  new  Redeemer,  disposed 
to  fight  for  justice’s  sake,  and  for  the  rights  of  the  oppressed  na¬ 
tives;  they  come  to  redeem  the  unredeemed  cities,  to  put  an  end 
to  the  hegemony  of  the  seas  that  only  one  country  unjustly  exer¬ 
cises,  and  to  transform,  with  one  blow,  the  map  of  the  world. 

“  ‘The  hand  that  moves  the  small  pieces  of  the  international 
chess  game  is  already  without  pulse  and  tremulous  and  abandons 
to  their  own  resources  the  people  that  she  drew  toward  the  heca¬ 
tomb  to  serve  her  avarice,  while  she,  even  yet  in  her  last  agony, 
wants  to  sacrifice  another  nation;  subjugated  by  her  ambitions, 
giving  her  liberty  in  compensation  for  her  generous  blood — oh, 
the  defender  of  the  weak! 

“  ‘It  seems  her  star  moves  to  eclipse;  the  mists  that  surround 
her  become  thicker,  hiding  her  light;  perhaps  some  design  of 
God  is  going  to  be  fulfilled,  of  God  whose  divine  justice  wishes  to 
overthrow  the  haughtiness  of  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the 
world.  The  Iberian  lion,  waking  from  its  lethargy,  rises  up  to 
be  able  to  watch  the  fall  of  that  nation’s  arrogance  and  to  listen 
to  the  songs  of  the  redemption  of  mankind. 

“  ‘Late  they  arrive,  these  legions  of  rescuers  from  over  the 
sea.  It  seems  that  when  they  arrive  in  Europe  they  will  take  the 
form  of  flocks  of  vultures  allured  by  the  smell  of  dead  flesh,  who 
come  to  scratch  in  foreign  lands,  perhaps  thinking  to  get  some 
small  piece  with  which  to  satisfy  their  insatiable  covetousness 
under  the  hypocrite  mask  of  humanitarianism — completely  false. 

“  ‘Come  they  will,  but  late,  when  their  only  mission  will  be 
to  sit  at  the  table  where  the  banquet  of  coming  peace  is  held  to 
exact  .the  presidency  of  honor;  then  they  will  like  to  be  the  first.’ 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


35 


“The  hand  of  the  Teuton  also  is  discoverable  in  the  following 
comment  on  American  conditions  published  in  a  Spanish  journal: 

“  ‘The  telegram  (referring  to  alleged  “Yankee  propaganda”) 
says  that  the  number  of  men  being  instructed  in  camps,  already 
prepared  to  be  sent  into  France,  reaches  1,600,000,  and  that  this 
will  be  doubled  within  the  year. 

“  ‘It  is  opportune  to  know  that  since  the  month  of  September 
only  640,000  men  have  received  instruction  to  be  sent  to  France. 
The  World  of  January  11  stated  that  480,000  men  were  in  the 
camps.  The  rest  is  probably  fictitious. 

“  ‘To  send  an  army  of  1,500,000  men  the  Americans  lack  not 
alone  the  ships  to  transport  them  but  food  to  maintain  them 
in  Europe.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  in  view  of  the 
scarcity  of  food  in  England  and  France,  these  two  nations  pre¬ 
ferred,  given  the  impossibility  of  America’s  sending  both  troops 
and  food,  to  have  food  only.’  ” 


From  Spain  the  Germans  have  conducted  an  elaborate  campaign 
for  all  of  Spanish- America.  They  have  been  aided  by  the  large 
numbers  of  Germans  who  have  settled  in  the  countries  of  Spanish 
affiliation,  but  have  retained  their  devotion  to  the  Yaterland.  With 
these  missionaries,  the  central  bureaus  have  kept  in  close  touch 
by  wireless  and  by  smuggled  mail  and  freight.  They  have  been 
particularly  effective  in  Mexico  for  many  reasons. 

MEXICO. 

The  tension  between  Mexican  interests  and  those  of  the  United 
States  was  extreme  long  before  this  war.  Since  our  troops  went 
into  Mexico  under  General  Pershing,  the  situation  has  been  very 
delicate.  Germany  has  left  no  stone  unturned  to  provoke  an  actual 
war.  The  inevitable  disaster  to  Mexico  would  cause  Germany  no 
regret,  because  it  would  divert  American  attention,  troops,  supplies 
and  treasure  to  a  side-issue  and  immensely  weaken  our  whole¬ 
hearted  support  of  our  Allies. 

In  San  Antonio,  Texas,  alone  seven  carloads  of  German  propa¬ 
ganda  destined  for  Mexico  were  held  up  and  burned  between  Febru¬ 
ary  and  June.  It  consisted  mainly  of  newspapers,  magazines  and 
books  published  in  Spanish  and  German  and  shipped  to  San  An¬ 
tonio  from  Spain,  Cuba  and  Argentina. 

Germany,  as  we  know  through  the  exposure  of  the  Zimmerman 
note,  cheerfully  promised  to  Mexico,  Texas,  California  and  other 
American  States  as  the  reward  of  cooperation.  She  could  well 
afford  to  promise  such  wages.  She  did  not  bring  about  her  dream 
of  an  alliance  between  Mexico  and  Japan  against  the  United  States, 


3  6 


Propaganda 


though  her  efforts  have  been  untiring.  She  has  been  amply 
rewarded  for  the  great  sums  of  money  expended  on  propaganda. 
She  has  kept  Mexico  from  joining  the  Allies. 

An  article  in  the  World’s  Work  for  June,  1918,  describes  many 
phases  of  the  > German  activity,  which  extends  even  to  the  drilling 
of  Boy  Scouts  in  the  “goose  step.” 

German  reservists  are  doing  what  they  can  in  Mexico.  Wireless 
communication  with  Germany  through  Spain  has  been  one  of  their 
ambitions.  To  establish  U-boat  bases  or  bases  for  commerce  raiders 
on  the  Mexican  coasts  is  another  of  the  German  plans. 

Germany  has  many  newspapers  there  published  in  the  German 
language,  and  many  subsidized  papers  published  in  Spanish.  Only 
one  newspaper  was  openly  pro- Ally,  and  that  was  El  Universal, 
published  by  Mr.  Felix  Pallavicini.  His  activities  aroused  so  much 
opposition  and  so  many  threats  were  made  against  his  life  that  in 
May,  1918,  he  was  compelled  by  threats  of  assassination  to  sell  his 
paper  and  move  to  the  United  States. 

On  May  7,  two  American  newspaper  men,  Robert  Murray, 
a  representative  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information,  and  W.  E. 
Wiegand,  were  arrested  in  Mexico  for  “pernicious  propaganda.” 
They  were  in  danger  of  being  shot,  but  were  ordered  deported.  This 
sentence,  however,  was  suspended,  and  in  June  a  large  delegation 
of  Mexican  editors  was  invited  to  come  over  the  border  and  see 
what  the  United  States  is  doing  and  hear  what  our  motives  and 
intentions  toward  them  actually  are. 

They  were  received  by  President  Wilson,  who  made  them  an 
address  which  was  published  in  Mexico  before  its  issue  here  was 
permitted.  The  President  expressed  his  regret  for  injustices  done 
to  Mexico  in  the  past,  revealed  his  understanding  of  their  distrust 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  advocated  a  Pan-American  agreement 
which  would  amount  to  a  guarantee’  of  protection  against  the 
possibility  of  aggression  by  the  United  States,  as  well  as  European 
powers. 

He  emphasized  the  purity  of  our  motives  and  our  innocence 
of  any  desire  for  conquest  or  profit  from  this  war,  and  the  Mexican 
editors  seemed  to  be  greatly  impressed,  as  were  our  Allies.  The 
London  Daily  News  declared  that  in  this  memorable  address  Presi¬ 
dent  Wilson  “revealed  himself  as  the  architect  of  the  world’s 
future.”  The  London  Times,  comparing  the  speech  with  the  recent 
statement  of  the  German  vice  chancellor,  says: 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


37 


“No  contrast  could  be  stronger.  The  President  talks  of  liberty, 
justice  and  law.  The  vice  chancellor  looks  forward  to  a  world  in 
which  the  unified  armies  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  will 
still  impose  their  orders  on  a  submissive  Europe.” 

It  is  this  fundamental  difference  in  ambitions  that  dictates 
the  propaganda  of  the  Germans.  Driven  with  a  lust  for  domination 
and  commercial  supremacy,  they  betray  all  the  traits  both  of 
conscienceless  tyrants  and  of  crooked  tradesmen.  Slander,  murder 
and  thieving  are  mere  details  of  the  business  program. 

The  President  in  his  address  quoted  a  perfect  example  of 
German  falsehood  in  handling  the  partial  success  of  their  June 
U-boat  raid  on  the  American  coasts: 

“It  distresses  me  to  learn  that  certain  influences  which  I 
assume  to  be  German  in  their  origin,  are  trying  to  make  a  wrong 
impression  throughout  Mexico  as  to  the  purposes  of  the  United 
States,  and  not  only  a  wrong  impression,  but  to  give  an  abso¬ 
lutely  untrue  account  of  things  that  happen.  You  know  the  dis¬ 
tressing  things  that  have  been  happening  just  off  our  coasts.  You 
know  of  the  vessels  that  have  been  sunk.  I  yesterday  received  a 
quotation  from  a  paper  in  Guadalajara  which  stated  that  thirteen 
of  our  battleships  had  been  sunk  off  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake. 
You  see  how  dreadful  it  is  to  have  people  so  radically  misin-  » 
formed. 

“It  was  added  that  our  Navy  Department  was  withholding 
the  truth  with  regard  to  these  sinkings.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
publisher  of  the  paper  published  that  in  perfect  innocence  with¬ 
out  intending  to  convey  wrong  impressions,  but  it  is  evident  that 
allegations  of  that  sort  proceed  from  those  who  wish  to  make 
trouble  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States.” 

The  German  cause  has  succeeded  so  well  in  Mexico,  not  only 
because  of  the  recent  removal  to  that  country  of  great  numbers 
of  Germans,  but  also  because,  long  before  the  war,  Germany  had 
been  entrenching  her  spies  and  propagandists  there. 

Information  of  one  especially  strong  organization  has  recently 
come  to  light  in  the  following  account:  A  report  of  the  “Society 
of  German  Subjects  in  Mexico/’  dated  July,  1916,  shows  that  the 
purpose  of  the  society  was  to  “render  permanent  the  interests  of 
Germanism  in  economic  and  political  spheres.”  Local  groups 
under  the  direction  of  the  Central  Council  of  the  Society  were 
formed  through  the  agency  of  the  various  imperial  German  con¬ 
sulates  throughout  Mexico  to  engage  in  publicity  work,  destined 
to  continue  even  after  the  close  of  the  war.  The  daily  news  service 
of  the  German-American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  New  York  was 
controlled  by  the  society,  which  sent  war  telegrams  thus  received 
to  all  daily  newspapers.  A  bi-weekly  newspaper  was  established 


Propaganda 


38 

as  the  organ  of  the  society  and  thousands  of  pamphlets,  etc.,  were 
distributed  free  of  charge,  the  costs  being  borne  by  the  German 
firms  in  Mexico  and  by  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  German 
colony.  The  American  colony  was  a  particular  object  of  atten¬ 
tion,  being  flooded  with  free  publications  of  German  propaganda. 
The  result,  in  1916,  as  estimated  in  this  report  of  the  society,  was 
that  the  Mexican  Government  and  the  majority  of  the  better  classes 
were  completely  won  over  to  the  German  side,  whereas  the  lower 
classes,  laborers  and  workmen,  had  sympathized  with  Germany  from 
the  beginning.  As  for  those  of  German  descent,  those  who  were 
not  already  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  Fatherland  recalled  their 
forgotten  Germanism  as  soon  as  they  began  to  expect  the  success 
of  the  German  cause. 

An  American  banker  just  from  Mexico  City  described  the  situa¬ 
tion  in  the  New  York  Tribune  of  June  22,  1918: 

“A  campaign  to  inflame  Mexicans  against  the  United  States  is 
being  carried  on  openly  by  German  agents.  German  financial  in¬ 
terests  are  rapidly  absorbing  important  Mexican  industries. 

“There  are  about  5,000  Germans  in  Mexico  City  alone.  They 
have  honeycombed  the  country  with  their  spy  system,  and  have 
adopted  both  open  and  secret  measures  to  control  public  feeling. 
Four  newspapers  in  the  city  are  pro-German  in  sentiment  and 
openly  hostile  to  the  United  States. 

“An  example  of  German  activity  is  shown  in  their  organized 
theatre  claques.  When  moving  pictures  of  American  troops  are 
thrown  on  the  screen,  Germans  in  the  audience  start  jeering  and 
hissing,  and  the  impressionable  Mexicans  join  in.  Movies  of 
Prussian  troops  are  always  greeted  with  applause. 

“Americans  and  Germans  are  usually  formally  polite  when 
they  meet.  But  a  party  of  drunken  Germans  tried  to  invade  the 
American  Club  recently,  and  a  fight  was  started,  in  which  several 
of  the  enemy  were  sent  to  the  hospital.  There  are  few  fugitive 
slackers  from  the  United  States  in  evidence  in  Mexico  City. 
Those  who  do  appear  find  it  difficult  to  obtain  work  from  any  one 
except  the  Germans.” 


Among  the  visiting  Mexican  editors  was  Mr.  Leo  I).  Walker, 
manager  and  editor  of  El  Progresso,  who  gave  the  following  ac¬ 
count  of  the  press  propaganda  in  the  New  York  Times  of  June 
16,  1918: 


“Monterey  has  one  pro-German  newspaper,  El  Dia.  whose  man¬ 
ager  is  hardly  out  of  this  teens.  This  newspaper,  El  Dia.  has  a 
circulation  of  from  500  to  600  daily.  El  Dia  was  formally  pro- 
ally  in  its  sympathies;  in  fact,  it  vilified  the  Germans  bitterly. 
But  one  day  it  changed  its  tactics.  While  the  pro-ally  papers  in 
Monterey — there  are  three  others — find  it  difficult  to  buy  news 
print  paper  at  6  and  7  cents  a  pound,  El  Dia  has  a  warehouse  full 
of  news  print  paper. 


Amony  Neutral  Nations 


39 


■  “It  receives  a  telegraph  service,  as  far  as  can  be  learned,  from 
a  place  in  Mexico  opposite  Laredo.  My  own  paper  takes  the 
Associated  Press  service,  and,  because  El  Dia  seems  to  appear 
with  the  news  generally  one  day  late,  it  might  seem  that  they 
were  taking  it  from  us.  But  that  is  not  the  case.  To  illustrate: 
In  the  recent  German  drive  the  Germans  captured  one  of  their 
objectives  and  took  about  2,000  prisoners.  El  Dia  was  not  late 
with  this  story,  but  published  it  in  the  same  issue  as  it  appeared 
in  El  Progresso.  The  only  difference,  and  it  was  a  great  differ¬ 
ence,  was  that  El  Dia  said  that  200,000  prisoners  were  taken,  and 
played  the  story  up  in  a  way  that  only  a  pro-German  paper  would 
handle  a  German  drive. 

“Before  El  Dia  adopted  the  pro-German  policy  the  young 
editor  found  it  hard  to  make  both  ends  meet.  Today  we  learn 
that  his  bills  are  paid,  and  he  is  given  a  handsome  salary  besides. 
In  fact,  he  now  wears  a  diamond  ring  and  is  arranging  to  buy  an 
automobile. 

“It  would  be  easy  to  have  a  central  source  for  news  opposite 
Laredo,  the  object  of  which  is  to  supply  the  pro-German  news¬ 
papers  in  Mexico  with  garbled  information.  The  news  could  be 
sent  over  by  telephone  from  Laredo  to  Mexico  and  then  relayed 
on  to  various  cities  where  the  pro-German  papers  are  published. 

“  ‘You  know  President  Wilson  told  us  that  the  pro-Germans  in 
Mexico  spread  the  report  that  eleven  warships  were  sunk  by  the 
German  U-boats  at  the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor.  That  is  the 
sort  of  false  information  that  the  pro-Germans  attempt  to  put 
over  all  the  time.  Apparently  the  pro-German  newspapers  put  in 
a  large  supply  of  news  print  paper  before  the  embargo  was 
applied.  As  that  paper  is  used  up  it  is  likely  that  the  propaganda 
will  die  down.’ 

“Another  member  of  the  party  told  of  how  when  the  journalists 
left  Mexico,  the  pro-German  press  published  lengthy  articles  on  ‘the 
traitor  journalists.’  Since  then  the  Mexican  newspaper  men  have 
been  regaling  themselves  by  publishing  in  every  city  that  they 
stop  a  newspaper  which  they  call  The  Traitor  Journalists.  How¬ 
ever,  they  were  too  busy  in  New  York  to  get  out  an  issue. 

“Another  pro-German  report  spread  broadcast  recently  was 
that  all  the  crops  in  the  United  States  were  a  failure  this  season, 
and  that  this  country  was  unable  to  supply  any  food  to  the  Allies. 
When  the  statement  of  Secretary  Baker  that  there  were  500,000 
American  troops  in  France  was  published  in  Mexico  the  pro-Ger¬ 
man  newspapers  said  there  were  only  200,000,  and  most  of  these 
were  noncombatant  troops.  The  part  being  played  by  the  United 
States  is  always  belittled  in  the  pro-German  press  in  Mexico,  the 
editors  said,  and  the  false  news  has  a  cast  that  gives  it  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  having  been  supplied  to  the  various  pro-German  pub¬ 
lication  from  a  central  source. 

“It  was  the  opinion  of  the  editors  that  the  trip  they  were 
making  would  aid  in  the  better  dissemination  of  the  facts  as  to 
the  preparations  for  and  the  accomplishments  thus  far  by  this 
country  in  the  war. 

“When  we  return  to  Mexico,  after  viewing  your  great  Hog 
Island  shipyard,  your  munition  factories  at  Bethlehem,  and  your 
other  great  industrial  enterprises  engaged  in  war  work,  we  will 
be  able  to  tell  the  people  of  our  country  of  what  we  saw,  and  not 
what  we  were  told.  When  the  pro-Germans  spread  a  report  such 
as  the  one  that  all  the  crops  in  your  country  were  a  failure  we 
will  be  in  a  position  to  say  that  this  is  a  lie,  and  tell  what  we 
have  seen.  Reports  of  this  nature  previously  have  been  contra- 


40 


Propaganda 


dieted,  and  their  falsity  pointed  out  in  the  pro-Ally  press,  but 
the  German  propaganda  generally  attempted  to  discount  the 
refutations.  Now  we  shall  be  able  to  write  authoritatively  of  the 
things  we  have  seen  with  our  own  eyes. 

“In  a  further  attempt  to  cement  the  bonds  of  friendship  be¬ 
tween  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  it  is  believed  that  arrange¬ 
ments  will  soon  be  made  to  have  a  group  of  representative 
Mexican  business  men  visit  this  country  and  make  a  tour  similar 
to  that  of  the  editors.” 

SPANISH-AMERICA. 

Throughout  Spanish-America  war  is  being  waged  against  the 
United  States  and  the  Allies  by  Germans  and  by  natives  whom 
they  employ.  A  Federal  officer  of  the  United  States  on  May  5, 
1918,  made  a  statement  of  which  the  following  is  a  part: 

“South  America  at  this  moment  is  swamped  with  a  pamphlet 
entitled  El  Vampiro  del  Continente,  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
vicious  attack  on  a  nation  every  published,  and  the  nation  in  this 
instance  is  the  United  States.  We  are  getting  reports  on  this 
pamphlet  from  everywhere  in  South  America,  and  that  much 
harm  has  been  done,  must  be  admitted. 

“Some  months  ago  there  was  sent  to  South  America  for  cir¬ 
culation  a  little  officially  prepared  document  entitled  ‘Why 
America  Went  to  War.’  Instead  of  making  friends  for  us  the 
book  lost  them,  and  an  investigation  was  ordered.  This  investi¬ 
gation  led  to  the  discovery  that  the  Germans  had  got  hold  of  the 
genuine  documents,  after  which  they  proceeded  to  substitute  an 
edition  of  their  own.  The  spurious  edition  was  the  same  as  the 
American,  with  the  exception  that  the  Germans  inserted  a  pre¬ 
face. 

“The  preface  was  cleverly  written,  and  to  the  ordinary  person 
read  as  if  it  had  been  prepared  by  our  Government.  But  the  state¬ 
ments  in  the  preface  did  not  bear  out  the  facts  in  the  rest  of  the 
book,  and  so  instead  of  believing  what  we  said,  thousands  of 
people  who  read  the  book  came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  were 
lying.  Proper  steps  are  now  being  taken  to  counteract  this  work 
of  the  enemy  propaganda. 

“In  the  South  American  countries  the  Germans  have  bought 
up  numerous  newspapers,  which  they  employ  to  spread  their 
propaganda,  but  this  is  a  well  known  fact  and  so  I  won’t  elaborate 
on  it.  I  will,  however,  make  a  reference  to  Mexico  where  the 
German  newspaper  propaganda  has  been  and  is  still  more  pow¬ 
erful  than  in  any  nation  in  the  world,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  Spain.  These  papers  print  the  most  scandalous  stories  about 
public  men  in  America  and  in  some  instances  even  against  the 
women  relatives  of  these  men.  President  Wilson  and  Lloyd 
George  are  the  favorite  targets  of  these  scurrilous  and  lying 
attacks. 

“With  the  aid  of  these  newspapers  they  get  to  the  business 
man.  For  instance,  a  merchant  is  pro-Ally  in  his  sentiments.  The 
leading  paper  in  his  town  is  German-owned,  but  he  does  not  know 
it.  The  fact  that  he  is  not  in  sympathy  with  Germany  is 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  secret  German  agent  in  charge 
of  propaganda  in  his  city  or  town.  An  excuse  is  found  to 
exclude  the  merchant’s  advertisement,  and  at  the  same  time  to 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


41 


boost  the  business  of  his  pro-German  opponent.  The  result  is 
that  he  is  ruined,  or  else  gets  back  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
paper  by  turning  pro-German. 

“Nothing  but  expert  liars  are  used  by  the  Germans  in  spread¬ 
ing  their  false  information.  These  liars  are  trained  in  falsehood 
from  their  youth,  and  they  are  the  men  who,  when  other  forms 
of  propaganda  fail  to  bring  results,  resort  to  scandal  of  the  most 
vicious  kind  in  order  to  attain  their  objects.  Mexico  and  Spain 
are  full  of  these  German  liars.” 

A  similar  organization  is  discovered  at  work  in  Chile  as  shown 
in  an  intercepted  letter: 

“The  Comision  Central  of  pro^German  propaganda  in  San¬ 
tiago,  Chile,  writes  March  1,  1918,  to  -  - ,  San  Jose, 

Costa  Rica.  In  answer  to  his  letter  requesting  sample  copies  of 
press  of  Chile  tells  him  to  consult  exchanges  which  La  Informa¬ 
tion  receives.  Encloses  printed  copy  of  a  protest  which  the 
Comision  Central  sent  February  26,  1918,  objecting  to  caricature 
of  the  Kaiser  appearing  in  one  of  the  Chilean  papers.” 

At  Montevideo  also  the  Germans  are  busy,  as  is  seen  by  the 
following  report : 

“  ‘Centro  Germana,’  a  German  club  organized  August,  1915,  in 
Montevideo,  Uruguay,  by  employees  of  Standt  &  Co.  and  ICnopp 
&  Co.  and  other  German  sympathizers,  membership  at  one  time 
about  500,  mostly  Uruguayans  and  Spaniards.  Published  a  small 
paper  and  bulletins  which  the  government  has  stopped.  All  daily 
papers  in  Montevideo  now  pro-Ally,  one  weekly  pro-German. 
Spanish  review,  Oberia,  unimportant.  Government  and  people 
of  Montevideo  pro-ally,  country  not.  Commander  of  government 
cruiser  Uruguay  is  German  Capt.  Franz  Ruete,  former  officer  in 
German  navy.  Banco  Italiano  under  suspicion. 

“In  Colombia  the  following  story  was  started  and  published 
in  all  the  papers  with  the  double  object  of  creating  Colombian 
and  Japanese  bitterness  toward  the  United  States.  A  Japanese 
ship  convoying  two  frigates  entered  the  Panama  canal,  but  did 
not  hoist  the  American  colors.  It  was  stopped  and  the  reason 
demanded.  The  captain  answered  that  he  saw  no  reason  for 
flying  the  United  States  flag  in  Colombian  waters.  He  there¬ 
upon  flew  the  flag  of  Colombia,  and  when  United  States  officers 
came  out  to  tear  it  down,  he  spread  the  flag  of  Japan  over  the 
gangway  and  dared  them  to  cross  it.  The  cowardly  Americans 
retreated  and  the  ship  went  on  its  triumphal  way.  The  Japanese 
captain  stated  afterward  that  he  would  have  blown  up  the  canal 
if  he  had  been  molested. 

“This  fairy  story  was  spread  far  and  wide,  until  the  cen¬ 
sorship  came  upon  a  letter  congratulating  the  author  of  the 
romance  'on  the  success  of  his  invention.  He  was  arrested. 
Another  successful  story  was  that  the  United  States  has  only 
25,000  men  in  France,  and  that  they  are  mutinous  from  starva¬ 
tion  owing  to  our  inability  to  get  supplies  across  to  them.” 

Great  sums  have  been  spent  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  win  Cuba 
over,  according  to  this  statement  in  the  newspapers  of  June  14, 

1918: 

(3) 


42 


Propaganda 


“More  than  $200,000,000  has  been  spent  for  propaganda  work 
in  Cuba  by  Germany  since  the  entrance  of  this  country  into  the 
war,  was  the  statement  made  today  by  a  retired  United  States 
Army  captain,  who  arrived  here  on  an  American  vessel  from 
South  America. 

“This  captain  makes  his  home  in  Havana,  where  he  has  busi¬ 
ness  interests,  and  says  he  and  other  prominent  business  men 
of  that  city  have  several  times  narrowly  escaped  attempts  on 
their  lives  because  of  their  activities  in  trying  to  thwart  the  Ger¬ 
man  propagandists. 

“  ‘All  of  the  German  propaganda  in  Cuba,’  he  said,  ‘is  in  the 
hands  of  one  man,  whom  I  consider  more  dangerous  than  two 
German  armies  on  the  French  front.  Operating  through  the 
Spanish  banks,  this  man  has  negotiated  for  the  controlling  in¬ 
terest  in  piers,  shipping  and  fishing  interests,  and  recently  has 
acquired  important  factories,  including  chocolate  and  piano 
plants. 

“  ‘He  employs  one  man  at  $5,000  a  year,  whose  sole  interest 
is  to  try  to  induce  the  Cuban  government  to  make  certain  changes 
in  the  regulation  of  the  tariff  which  will  be  for  the  benefit, 
of  Germany  after  the  war. 

“  ‘This  German  propaganda  work  is  being  carried  on,  not 
only  in  Cuba,  but  also  in  Mexico  and  Central  America.  More 
than  400  German  agents  have  been  sent  to  Mexico  from  Cuba 
for  propaganda  purposes.  When  the  Mexican  gunboat  Progreso 
left  Cuba  recently  it  had  as  passengers  three  men  known  by  the 
authorities  to  be  German  agents.’  ”  . 

According  to  information  received  by  the  Military  Intelligence 
Branch,  orders  were  issued  in  June,  1918,  to  intensify  the  propa¬ 
ganda  in  favor  of  the  Central  Powers  by  means  of  the  press  in 
Argentina  and  Chile.  All  papers  possible  were  to  be  bribed  with 
a  view  to  preparing  a  favorable  atmosphere  for  Germany,  and 
avoiding  the  loss  of  the  only  two  commercial  fields  left  in  South 
America — Chile  and  Argentina. 

La  Union,  a  German  propaganda  newspaper  in  Argentina,  often 
publishes  Berlin  official  communiques,  which  arrive  nine  hours 
later  over  a  British  cable  from  London. 

The  cables  are  obtained  from  Curacao,  Dutch  West  Indies,  which 
is  able  to  keep  up  direct  communicaton  with  the  Nauen  station. 
Messages  are  transmitted  from  Curacao  to  a  receiving  station  in 
Chile,  whence  they  are  sent  to  Buenos  Aires  by  the  local  wires. 

The  source  of  I^a  Union  s  telegraphic  service  is  a  well  organized 
and  evidently  enormously  subsidized  office  ofv  Qerman  propa¬ 
ganda,  operating  under  the  guise  of  a  dummy  news  agency,  “Prensa 
Asociada”  (Spanish  translation  of  “Associated  Press”),  which  name 
was  purposely  used  to  confuse  it  with  the  “Associated  Press,”  with 
which  it  has  no  connection. 

The  “Prensa  Asociada”  sends  out  its  letters  reading  “Sucursal, 
Buenos  Aires  ;”  receives  a  bona  fide  telegraphic  service  which  has 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


43 


been  handed  over  to  La  Union  and  the  other  German  papers  here, 
and  was  discovered  as  a  result  of  offering  telegraphic  service  at 
a  ridiculously  low  price  to  the  local  and  provincial  newspapers, 
and  finally  offering  it  free  to  the  Buenos  Aires  papers. 

The  big  dailies  in  Buenos  Aires  have  mistakenly  used  the  words 
“The  Associated  Press”  in  crediting  news  dispatches,  yet  the  Ger¬ 
man  office  does  not  claim  to  be  a  branch  of  the  New  York  Asso¬ 
ciated  Press,  though  it  does  claim  to  have  a  branch  office  in  New 
York. 

Outside  of  Buenos  Aires,  the  only  branches  of  “Prensa  Asociada” 
which  have  been  found  are  at  Madrid  and  at  Santiago  de  Chile, 
which  from  all  appearances  is  filing  wireless  news  received  some¬ 
where  on  the  west  coast  or  in  Central  America. 


“disruption  offensive”  against  japan. 

A  cable  from  the  London  Times  of  May  18  makes  the  follow¬ 
ing  statement  concerning  German  tamperings  with  Japan: 

“London,  May  17. — Baron  Chinda,  the  Japanese  Ambassador 
to  Great  Britain,  speaking  this  afternoon  at  a  luncheon  of  the 
foreign  press  association,  said  that  the  warning  by  Lord  Cur- 
zon,  who  had  spoken  previously  against  enemy  propaganda,  re¬ 
minded  him  keenly  of  a  ‘disruption  offensive.’  According  to  the 
last  report*  of  the  foreign  office,  Berlin  was  said  to  have  issued  a 
pamphlet  of  a  very  cheap  edition  entitled  ‘The  World’s  Future 
War,’  in  which  Japan  was  depicted  in  lurid  colors  as  fighting 
against  England.  That  was  one  means  of  their  propaganda,  said 
Baron  Chinda.  Another  thing  he  heard  was  that  according  to  a 
late  report  some  members  of  the  press  in  Berlin  were  taking  up 
discussing  the  question  of  future  alliances  between  Germany 
and  Japan. 

“  ‘You  can  see  through  all  these  machinations,’  said  the 
Ambassador.  “They  are  meant,  of  course,  to  alienate  Japan’s  feel¬ 
ing  from  her  ally  and  sow  seeds  of  mistrust  in  the  minds  of  the 
other  allies.  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  for  me  to  refute  these 
allegations,  because  they  are  so  monstrous,  so  preposterous,  that 
they  carry  with  themselves  their  own  refutation,  but  I  want  to 
state  that  whatever  other  national  faults  or  shortcomings  may 
be  laid  at  the  door  of  Japan,  assuredly  disloyalty  to  the  plighted 
word  is  not  one  that  we  have.  We  have  shown  that  already  by 
our  deeds  and  you  can  remember  the  reason  why  we  went  into 
this  war. 

“  ‘Japan  was  one  of  the  earliest  nations  who  made  common 
cause  with  you.  What  was  this  cause?  The  object  for  which 
Japan  went  to  war  and  the  object  for  which  Great  Britain 
declared  war  on  Germany  are  almost  the  same.  In  the  highest 
sense  of  honor  we  sought  to  live  up  to  our  words  with  England. 
Your  case  was  to  maintain  your  guarantee  of  the  neutrality  of 
Belgium  and  in  our  case  it  was  to  live  up  to  the  terms  of  the 
•  Anglo-Japanese  alliance.’  ’’ 


44 


Propaganda 


Efforts  to  arouse  jealousy  and  even  war  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States  have  been  incessant.  Japan  has  been  represented 
as  in  actual  alliance  with  Mexico  against  us.  Japanese  zealots 
against  the  United  States  and  Americans  fanatic  against  Japan 
have  played  Germany’s  game,  fortunately  without  success  and  yet 
alwavs  with  a  certain  evil  influence. 

While  one  set  of  propagandists  tries  to  prove  Germany’s  affec¬ 
tion  for  Japan  and  her  unity  of  interest,  others  denounce  the 
Japanese  as  a  yellow  peril.  When  the  Japanese  were  taking  steps 
to  protect  the  supplies  heaped  up  at  Vladivostok  the  Germans 
spent  one  million  marks  in  propaganda  to  stir  up  Russian  suspicion 
against  them. 


CHINA  AND  INDIA. 

At  the  same  time  the  Japanese  rapprochement  with  China  has 
furnished  the  ubiquitous  propagandists  with  another  field.  Their 
activity  was  thus  described  in  the  newspapers  of  May  23,  1918 : 

“A  special  cable  dispatch  to  the  Nichi  Bci  of  San  Francisco 
from  its  correspondent  in  Tokio  dealing  with  Teuton  intrigues 
among  Chinese  politicians,  says  that  the  agitation  among  the 
Chinese  politicians  and  students  in  the  Japanese  capital  proves 
the  supposition  that  these  intrigues  were  under  effective  control 
to  have  been  another  expensive  illusion. 

“A  body  of  extreme  radicals  among  the  Chinese  students  left 
Tokio  for  China  with  the  definite  idea  of  arousing  a  certain  politi¬ 
cal  element  in  China  to  fight  everything  Japanese  there  and  gener¬ 
ally  bring  about  a  hostile  sentiment  in  China  against  Japan.  Amer¬ 
ican  readers,  says  the  correspondent,  should  bear  in  mind  that  these 
so-called  Chinese  students  are  not  mere  college  boys.  An  over¬ 
whelming  majority  of  them  are  astute  and  thoroughly  experi¬ 
enced  politicians,  ever  alert  and  awaiting  for  a  chance  of  political 
opportunity,  and  all  this  excitement  among  them  was  the  direct 
result  of  the  clever  manipulation  of  the  Chinese  press  and  poli¬ 
ticians  by  German-paid  agents.  Excuse  was  found  in  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  treaty  providing  for  joint  action  in  Manchuria 
and  Siberia  against  German  penetration  of  the  Far  East. 

“The  agitation  among  the  Chinese  students  in  Tokio  assumed 
serious  proportions.  The  Chinese  Minister  there  called  some 
of  the  leaders  of  the  students  to  him  and  explained  to  them  the 
real  nature  of  the  treaty.  He  showed  how  they  had  been  mis¬ 
led  by  erroneous  reports  in  the  Chinese  press  and  appealed  to 
their  sense  of  justice  and  patriotism  to  cease  the  agitation.  To 
make  the  matter  still  more  effective,  the  Minister  induced 
Baron  Goto,  Foreign  Minister  of  Japan,  to  grant  an  interview 
to  their  leaders  and  to  give  them  an  official  explanation.  Baron 
Goto  received  the  students  readily,  according  to  the  Tokio 
cable,  and  said  to  them: 

“  ‘The  reports  in  certain  Chinese  newspapers  are  entirely 
wrong.  The  military  treaty  between  China  and  Japan  is  a 
defensive  instrument,  pure  and  simple.  It  provides  for  a  joint 
action  of  China  and  Japan  to  defend  the  peace  of  the  Far  East.  * 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


45 


Judging  from  the  unstable  conditions  of  affairs  in  Russia,  the 
German  influences  may  invade  the  extreme  East  and  threaten 
its  peace.  Such  a  thing  may  happen,  no  one  can  be  sure  that  it 
may  not.  If  it  should  come  to  pass,  the  treaty  provides  for  the 
joint  action  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  armies  to  protect  the  peace. 
There  is  no  other  significance.’ 

“This  explanation  satisfied  the  students,  according  to  the 
Tokio  cable,  but  they  requested  the  Foreign  Minister  to  put  it 
in  the  form  of  a  brief  memorandum  that  they  might  allay  the 
suspicion  of  some  3,000  of  their  fellow  students.  This  request 
was  readily  complied  with.” 

An  editorial  in  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  of  June  29,  1918,  thus 
sums  up  the  danger  and  the  opportunity  in  China  as  a  result  of 
German  propaganda : 

“Several  of  the  New  York  papers  published  a  statement  yes¬ 
terday  in  their  financial  sections  which  was  in  many  respects 
the  most  important  news  of  the  day.  The  New  York  Times  had 
it  this  way: 

“  ‘A  new  proposal  that  American  banks  unite  to  supply  money 
urgently  needed  by  the  Chinese  Government  has  been  brought 
forward  by  the  State  Department,  which  has  completely  reversed 
the  policy  toward  foreign  loans  adopted  by  W.  J.  Bryan  when  he 
was  Secretary  of  State.  At  the  request  of  the  State  Department, 
J.  P.  Morgan  attended  a  conference  in  Washington  on  Wednesday, 
at  which  the  necessities  of  the  republic  of  China  were  explained. 
Mr.  Morgan  represented  the  New  York  institutions  which  will 
cooperate  in  arranging  the  financing  if  the  old  difficulties  that 
blocked  previous  negotiations  can  be  cleared  away.’ 

“This  plan,  if  carried  through,  would  be  the  beginning  of  a 
new  sane  and  far-seeing  Allied  policy  for  the  saving  of  China 
from  the  Germans.  It  is  easy  for  glib  ignorance  to  indulge  in 
cheap  cynicism  about  ‘dollar  diplomacy’;  but  a  generous  Allied 
proposition — and  none  other  should  be  considered — for  the  financ¬ 
ing  of  distracted  and  almost  derelict  China  at  this  crisis  would 
be  an  intelligent  modern  movement  for  the  defeat  of  Germany  in 
one  of  the  most  important  ‘war  areas’  of  propaganda  and  opinion 
where  she  has  long  been  and  now  is  most  active — and  hopeful. 
That  it  has  to  do  with  ‘dollars’  is  beside  the  question.  So  have 
munitions  and  shipbuilding  and  Liberty  Loans  and  Red  Cross 
funds.  It  is,  seen  rightly,  an  act  of  war — a  body  blow  on  a  vital 
point  at  Prussian  imperialism. 

“China  is  already  our  active  ally.  She  is  already  a  republic. 
These  two  statements  possess  about  the  same  market  value.  They 
are  happy  signs  of  the  future  rather  than  comprehensive  defini¬ 
tions  of  the  present.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  many 
millions  there  are  in  China  who  have  heard  of  neither  fact.  It 
would  probably  be  the  naked  truth  to  say  that  the  Allies  will 
have  to  fight  for  China  before  China  will  do  very  much  fighting 
for  the  Allies.  By  ‘fight  for  China’  we  mean  a  number  of  things — 
fight  for  her  financially  by  supplying  the  vital  fluid  of  capital 
without  which  the  largest  nation  can  neither  profit  by  peace  nor 
wage  war;  fight  for  her  trust  and  confidence  without  which 
neither  our  peace  relations  nor  war  cooperation  will  make  such 
progress;  especially  fight  German  propaganda  in  China. 

“We  have  some  check  on  the  German  propagandist  in  America. 
He  is  still  foot-loose  in  China.  And  tongue-loose.  Some  idea  of 


46 


Propaganda 


the  sort  of  thing  he  does  may  be  gathered  from  one  of  his  pre¬ 
war  tricks.  He  formed  a  news  agency  which  proposed  to  supply 
a  steady  stream  of  cable  news  from  Berlin  to  all  the  Chinese 
newspapers.  The  newspapers  were  not  asked  to  pay  any  money 
for  this.  Oh,  no!  The  sordid  word  was  never  mentioned.  They 
were  to  pay  in  advertising  allotted  to  German  firms.  Get  the 
idea?  Berlin  would  pour  into  the  entire  Chinese  press  a  polluted 
river  of  Teuton-tainted  news  under  an  arrangement  so  attractive 
financially  that  no  Chinese  paper  would  be  without  it.  Then  the 
big  German  firms — the  steamship  people,  the  wholesale  mer¬ 
chants,  the  iron  men,  the  railway  builders,  everybody  whose 
profits  fattened  the  Fatherland — would  fill  up  this  free  space 
in  the  Chinese  papers  with  German  advertising.  The  loss  on  the 
operation?  That  would  be  charged  to  the  imperialistic  prop¬ 
aganda  fund. 

“It  is  silly,  dangerous  and  most  un-American  in  its  cowardly 
blinking  of  facts  for  us  to  pretend  that  the  Germans  have  not 
a  devilish  cleverness  in  deceiving,  tricking  and  trapping  virtually 
all  eastern  peoples.  Because  they  blundered  with  us,  not  under¬ 
standing  our  limpid  psychology,  we  laugh  comfortably  at  their 
efforts  elsewhere — laugh  in  spite  of  Russia,  in  spite  of  Italy,  in 
spite  of  Turkey.  If  we  keep  on  laughing  while  they  capture  400,- 
000,000  Chinese,  we  may  presently  laugh  on  the  other  side  of 
our  mouths.” 

German  propaganda  in  India  has  been  exceedingly  active,  and 
the  success  of  her  efforts  to  separate  India  from  the  British  Empire 
would  have  an  almost  incalculable  military  and  financial  influence 
Great  numbers  of  Hindu  troops  are  fighting  for  England  in  Meso¬ 
potamia  and  elsewhere,  and  these  would  be  cut  off  from  their  base 
and  perhaps  turned  into  enemies  instead  of  allies. 

The  United  States  has  been  notoriously  a  center  of  a  great 
Hindu  conspiracy.  The  trial  of  fifty  conspirators  in  San  Fran¬ 
cisco  involved  German  agents,  including  a  German  consul,  Franz 
Bopp.  All  of  them  were  found  guilty  and  one  of  the  Hindus  shot 
and  killed  another  in  the  court  room,  the  assassin  himself  being 
instantly  killed  by  a  Federal  marshal.  It  is  well  proved  that  the 
German  Embassy  and  the  various  consulates  in  the  United  States 
and  elsewhere  have  been  hotbeds  of  German  propaganda  and  of 
spy  work,  and  citizens  of  certain  neutral  nations  have  been  im¬ 
plicated  in  the  plots.  The  Count  Luxburg  of  “Spurlos  Versenkt” 
fame  has  been  only  one  of  many  confederates. 

TURKEY. 

The  propagandist  had  not  neglected  Turkey,  of  course.  In 
fact  the  Kaiser  himself  had  for  years  acted  as  his  own  propagandist 
or  in  homelier  terms,  his  own  “press  agent.”  By  personal  visits, 
by  protestation  of  respect  for  Mohammedanism,  by  the  publication 


Among  'Neutral  Nations 


47 


of  his  own  photograph  in  Turkish  uniform  and  by  various  other 
devices  he  advertised  Germany  as  Turkey’s  friend. 

The  papers  of  July  13,  1918,  reported  the  death  of  Karl  Neu- 
feld  in  a  sanitarium  near  Berlin  and  gave  a  brief  biography  of  him 
that  is  interesting  as  a  model  of  German  thoroughness  in  propa¬ 
ganda  : 


“When  Neufeld  was  rescued  from  a  Mahdist  jail  at  Omdur- 
man  in  September,  1898,  he  was  released  from  an  imprisonment 
which  had  lasted  eleven  years,  during  which  he  suffered  many 
sorts  of  torture.  He  had  been  a  merchant  at  Assuan  in  1887. 
From  a  fugitive  from  Soudan  he  got  the  news  in  Northern  Kordo- 
fan  that  there  was  a  large  quantity  of  gum  which  merchants  had 
been  unable  to  dispose  of  in  consequence  of  the  rebellion.  He 
got  permission  from  the  British  Government  to  set  off  with  a 
caravan  that  was  to  join  Sheik  Saleh.  Saleh’s  followers  were 
killed  in  a  fight  and  Neufeld  was  brought  to  Omdurman.  He  was 
to  have  been  hanged  on  the  following  morning.  The  Mahdi  re¬ 
pealed  the  sentence  and  Neufeld  went  to  prison.  He  spent  a 
year  in  the  ‘black  hole’  of  the  prison. 

“He  became  fluent  in  Arabic  and  Mohammedan  customs,  and 
not  long  after  his  release,  which  occurred  when  General  Kitch¬ 
ener  took  Omdurman,  he  made  pilgrimages  to  Mecca  and  suc¬ 
cessfully  passed  a  searching  examination  on  the  Koran,  when  his 
claim  to  being  a  Mohammedan  was  disputed.  He  spread  the  pre¬ 
vailing  belief  among  the  uninformed  Mohammedans  that  Em¬ 
peror  William  was  the  Grand  Caliph  of  the  European  Mohamme¬ 
dans  and  went  to  war  to  free  them  from  Christian  oppression.” 

So  complete  was  the  domination  of  Turkey  by  Germany,  no\ 
only  through  the  providing  of  military  instruction  and  equipment, 
but  through  commercial  advances,  that  the  Turks  laid  the  blame 
of  the  Armenian  massacres  on  the  German  teaching. 

Ambassador  Morgenthau,  in  his  autobiography  as  published  in 
the  World's  Work ,  gives  in  the  June  number  many  striking  ex¬ 
amples  of  German  methods  and  comments  on  their  incalculable 
military  importance: 

“The  duel  that  took  place  between  Germany  and  the  Entente 
for  Turkey’s  favor  was  a  most  unequal  one.  Germany  had  won 
the  victory  when  she  smuggled  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  into 
the  Sea  of  Marmora.  The  English,  French  and  Russian  ambas¬ 
sadors  well  understood  this,  and  they  knew  that  they  could  not 
make  Turkey  an  active  ally  of  the  Entente;  they  probably  had  no 
desire  to  do  so;  however,  they  did  hope  that  they  could  keep  her 
neutral.  *  *  * 

“Whatever  may  have  been  the  attitude  of  Enver  and  Talaat, 
I  think  that  England  and  France  were  more  popular  with  all 
classes  in  Turkey  than  was  Germany.  The  Sultan  was  opposed 
to  war;  the  heir  apparent,  Youssouff  Izzadin,  was  openly  pro- 
ally;  the  Grand  Vizier,  Said  Halim,  favored  England  rather  than 
Germany;  Djemal,  the  third  member  of  the  ruling  triumvirate, 
had  the  reputation  of  being  a  Francophile — he  had  recently  re- 


48 


Propaganda 


turned  from  Paris,  where  the  reception  he  had  received  had 
greatly  flattered  him;  a  majority  of  the  cabinet  had  no  enthu¬ 
siasm  for  Germany;  and  public  opinion,  so  far  as  public  opinion 
existed  in  Turkey,  regarded  England,  not  Germany,  as  Turkey’s 
historic  friend.  Wangenheim,  therefore,  had  much  opposition 
to  overcome  and  the  methods  which  he  took  to  break  it  down 
form  a  classic  illustration  of  German  propaganda.  Wangenheim’s 
agents  now  filled  columns  with  purchased  attacks  on  England. 
The  whole  Turkish  press  rapidly  passed  under  the  control  of 
Germany.  Wangenheim  purchased  the  Ikdam,  one  of  the  largest 
Turkish  newspapers,  which  immediately  began  to  sing  the 
praises  of  Germany  and  to  abuse  the  Entente.  The  Osmanischer 
Lloyd,  published  in  French  and  German,  became  an  organ  of 
the  German  Embassy.  Although  the  Turkish  Constitution  guar¬ 
anteed  a  free  press,  a  censorship  was  established  in  the  interest 
of  the  Central  Powers.  All  Turkish  editors  were  ordered  to 
write  in  Germany’s  favor  and  they  obeyed  instructions.  The 
Jeune  Turc,  a  pro-Entente  newspaper,  printed  in  French,  was 
suppressed.  The  Turkish  papers  exaggerated  German  victories 
and  completely  manufactured  others;  they  were  constantly 
printing  the  news  of  Entente  defeats,  most  of  them  wholly  imag¬ 
inary.  In  the  evening  Wangenheim  and  Pallavicini  would  show 
me  official  telegrams  giving  the  details  of  military  operations, 
but  when,  in  the  morning,  I  would  look  in  the  newspapers  I 
would  find  that  this  news  had  been  twisted  or  falsified  in  Ger¬ 
many’s  favor. 

“A  certain  Baron  Oppenheim  traveled  all  over  Turkey  manu¬ 
facturing  public  opinion  against  England  and  France.  Ostensibly 
he  was  an  archaeologist,  while  in  reality  he  opened  offices  every¬ 
where,  from  which  issued  streams  of  slanders  against  the  En¬ 
tente.  Huge  maps  were  pasted  on  walls,  showing  all  the  terri¬ 
tory  which  Turkey  had  lost  in  the  course  of  a  century.  Russia 
was  portrayed  as  the  nation  chiefly  responsible  for  these  ‘rob¬ 
beries’  and  attention  was  drawn  to  the  fact  that  England  had 
now  become  Russia’s  ally.  Pictures  were  published  showing 
the  grasping  powers  of  the  Entente  as  rapacious  animals,  snatch¬ 
ing  away  at  poor  Turkey.  Enver  was  advertised  as  the  ‘hero’ 
who  had  recovered  Adrianople;  Germany  was  pictured  as  Tur¬ 
key’s  friend;  the  Kaiser  suddenly  became  ‘Hadji  Wilhelm,’  the 
great  protector  of  Islam;  stories  were  even  printed  that  he  had 
become  a  convert  to  Mohammedanism.  The  Turkish  populace 
was  informed  that  the  Moslems  of  India  and  of  Egypt  were 
about  to  revolt  and  throw  off  their  English  ‘tyrants.’  The 
Turkish  man-on-the-street  was  taught  to  say  ‘Gott  Strafe  Eng¬ 
land,’  and  all  the  time  the  motive  power  of  this  infamous  cam¬ 
paign  was  German  money. 

“But  Germany  was  doing  more  than  poisoning  the  Turkish 
mind;  she  was  appropriating  Turkey’s  military  resources.  The 
time  had  now  come  to  transform  Turkey  from  a  passive  into  an 
active  ally,  and  the  closing  of  the  Dardanelles  was  the  first  step 
in  this  direction.  Few  Americans  realize,  even  today,  what  an 
overwhelming  influence  this  act  had  upon  future  military  opera¬ 
tions.  *  *  *  This  was  the  narrow  gate  through  which  the  sur¬ 

plus  products  of  175,000,000  people  reached  Europe,  and  nine- 
tenths  of  all  Russian  exports  and  imports  had  gone  this  way  for 
years.  By  suddenly  closing  it,  Germany  destroyed  Russia, 
both  as  an  economic  and  a  military  power.  By  shutting  off  the 
exports  of  Russian  grain  she  deprived  Russia  of  the  financial 
power  essential  to  successful  warfare.  What  was  perhaps  even 
more  fatal,  she  prevented  England  and  France  from  getting 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


i 


49 


munitions  to  the  Russian  battle  front  in  sufficient  quantity  to 
stem  the  German  onslaught.  As  soon  as  the  Dardanelles  was 
closed,  Russia  had  to  fall  back  on  Archangel  and  Vladivostok  for 
such  supplies  as  she  could  get  from  these  ports.  The  cause  of 
the  military  collapse  of  Russia  in  1915  is  now  well  known;  the 
soldiers  simply  had  no  ammunition  with  which  to  fight.  In  the 
last  few  months  Germany  has  attempted  desperately  to  drive  a 
‘wedge’  between  the  English  and  French  armies,  an  enterprise 
which,  up  to  the  present  writing,  has  failed.  When  Germany, 
however,  closed  the  Dardanelles  in  late  September,  1914,  she 
drove  such  a  ‘wedge’  between  Russia  and  her  allies. 

“In  the  days  following  this  bottling  up  of  Russia,  the  Bos¬ 
phorus  began  to  look  like  a  harbor  suddenly  stricken  with  the 
plague.  Hundreds  of  ships  from  Russia,  Rumania  and  Bulgaria 
loaded  with  grain,  lumber  and  other  products,  arrived,  only  to 
discover  that  they  could  go  no  further. 

“Then  one  by  one  they  turned  around,  pointed  their  noses 
toward  the  Black  Sea  and  lugubriously  started  for  their  home 
ports.  In  a  few  weeks  the  Bosphorus  and  adjoining  waters  had 
become  a  desolate  waste.  What  for  years  had  been  one  of  the 
most  animated  shipping  points  in  the  world  was  now  ruffled 
only  by  an  occasional  launch  or  a  tiny  Turkish  caique.  And  for 
an  accurate  idea  of  what  this  meant,  from  a  military  standpoint,  - 
we  need  only  call  to  mind  the  Russian  battle  front  in  the 
next  year.  There  the  peasants  were  fighting  German  artillery 
with  their  unprotected  bodies,  having  no  rifles  and  no  heavy 
guns,  while  mountains  of  useless  ammunition  were  piling  up  in 
their  distant  Arctic  and  Pacific  ports,  with  no  railroads  to  send 
them  to  the  field  of  action.’’ 

SCANDINAVIA  AND  HOLLAND. 

Sweden  is  a  paradise  for  German  propaganda.  Norway  has 
been  less  amenable  on  account  of  the  destruction  of  so  much 
of  her  shipping  by  the  submarines,  but  the  country  is  none  the  less 
kept  under  constant  pressure.  Denmark  is  similarly  crowded  with 
propagandists  and  Holland  is  alternately  threatened  and  offered 
bribes. 

The  Handelsblad  of  May  24,  1918,  announces: 

“We  have  learned  that  Germany  is  busily  engaged  in  estab¬ 
lishing  throughout  the  whole  world  a  Pan-German  information 
service,  and  that  one  of  the  measures  adopted  with  that  object  in 
view  has  been  the  creation  of  a  ‘National  Dutch  Information 
Agency  at  The  Hague.’  ” 

Germany’s  ability  and  willingness  to  use  in  other  countries 
as  her  agents  the  very  people  whom  she  represses  at  home  are 
shown  in  the  following  description  of  the  situation  in  Denmark 
contributed  to  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  June  9,  1918,  by  an 
“Ex-  Attache 

“With  Denmark  the  case  is  entirely  different.  In  the  early 
stages  of  the  war  the  sympathies  of  the  people  were  to  a  great 
extent  with  the  Entente  and  directed  against  Prussia,  which  in 


50 


Propaganda 


1864  had  robbed  her  of  her  two  richest  and  largest  provinces, 
Schleswig  and  Holstein. 

“But  soon  matters  underwent  a  change.  Agriculture,  which 
is  the  staple  industry  of  Denmark,  began  to  reap  undreamed  of 
profits  from  the  sale  of  its  produce  to  Germany,  while  the 
blockade  instituted  by  Great  Britain  interfered  so  greatly  with 
the  sea  trade  of  Denmark  as  to  cause  resentment  among  her 
people. 

“This  sentiment  was  diligently  fostered  and  fanned  by  the 
German  Socialist  agents  in  Denmark.  For  years  prior  to  the 
war  Germany  was  the  headquarters  of  Socialism  and  the  prin¬ 
cipal  leaders  of  the  cult  were  Germans. 

“Emperor  William  was  alive  to  the  opportunities  thus  offered, 
and  contrived,  even  prior  to  1914,  to  convert  the  German  Socialist 
leaders  into  his  agents  in  foreign  countries.  Though  making  a 
pretense  of  persecuting  the  Socialists  in  his  own  dominions,  he 
directed  their  operations  in  foreign  lands. 

“He  did  all  in  his  power — sub-rosa,  of  course — to  promote 
Socialism,  of  the  Teuton  brand,  in  each  one  of  the  countries  with 
which  he  was  supposed  to  be  on  terms  of  amity  and  friendship. 
And  thus  it  happened  that  when  the  present  war  began  the 
Socialists  in  every  country  leaned  toward  Germany,  and  when  the 
time  came  supported  his  pacifist  intrigues  against  their  own 
governments. 

“The  Danes  have  always  been  inclined  to  socialism — to  social¬ 
ism  of  the  extreme  order.  The  people  are  intensely  democratic. 
The  government  of  the  day  includes  Socialists  in  the  cabinet  and 
in  the  administration,  while  the  pro-German  premier,  Dr.  Zahle, 
is  a  radical  of  the  most  advanced  type. 

“Financed  by  the  German  government  and  directed  by  Ger¬ 
man  Socialist  agents,  benevolent  societies  and  peasants’  and 
workingmen’s  unions  were  formed  all  over  the  kingdom,  one  of 
the  most  notable  being  the  so-called  ‘Workingmen’s  Provision  of 
Combustibles,’  which  undertook  to  import  coal  from  Germany 
or  from  other  countries,  and  to  sell  it,  without  profit,  to  the 
laboring  classes. 

“All  these  unions  and  societies,  under  the  guise  of  mutual 
benefit  and  philanthropy,  were  just  so  many  German  Socialist 
organizations  for  the  advancement  of  the  political  interests  of  the 
Kaiser. 

“It  was  through  these  unions  that  the  Danes  were  taught  to 
believe  that  instead  of  having  any  reason  to  be  grateful  to  Amer¬ 
ica  for  the  extravagant  price  which  they  had  received  for  their 
West  Indian  Islands,  that  they  had,  on  the  contrary,  been  swin¬ 
dled  in  the  deal  and  could  have  had  a  much  larger  sum. 

“When  the  United  States  was  compelled  in  self-defense  to 
inaugurate  an  embargo  upon  all  exports,  except  those  licensed  by 
the  War  Trade  Board  at  Washington,  and  the  Danes  felt  the  pinch 
of  the  shoe,  they  became  quite  as  bitter  against  the  United  States 
as  against  England.  In  fact,  Denmark  today  seems  the  most 
unfriendly  of  all  neutrals,  running  neck  and  neck  in  the  matter 
with  Holland. 

“There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  the  two.  In  the 
Netherlands  the  masses  of  the  population,  the  bourgeoisie  and  the 
liberal  professions  hate  and  fear  Germany  and  lean  towards  the 
Entente.  It  is  the  aristocracy,  the  superior  officers  of  the  army, 
and  the  members  of  the  government  who  are  pro-German. 

“In  Denmark,  however,  we  have  not  only  the  court  and  gov¬ 
ernment,  but  also  the  entire  people  against  us,  thanks  to  the 
clever  work  of  the  Kaiser,  through  his  Socialist  allies.” 


/ 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


51 


A  Danish-American,  in  a  letter  to  a  Senator,  has  writen  the 
following  account  of  German  activity  among  his  people  and  makes 
an  interesting  suggestion  as  to  counteraction : 

“For  some  time  I  have  desired  to  bring  to  your  attention  a 
certain  phase  of  propaganda  originating  in  Germany  and  carried 
on  in  this  country;  also  how  it  may  be  made  to  recoil. 

“Schleswig,  taken  from  Denmark  by  Germany  in  1864,  was 
Danish  in  heart  and  by  tradition,  but  has  been  Teutonized  by  all 
the  methods  of  influence,  force,  persuasion,  schools,  church, 
courts,  conscription,  service,  trade,  preferment,  etc.,  and  it  has 
accomplished  wonders.  I  have  been  in  close  touch  with  the  work 
and  results.  By  analyzing  the  German  propaganda  work  in  the 
United  States  you  can  easily  judge  how  it  is  carried  on  in  the 
Scandinavian  lands,  Holland,  Spain  and  Switzerland.  The 
terrors  of  Belgium  were  partly  to  intimidate  the  small  neutrals, 
not  only  to  make  them  stay  out,  but  to  obey  German  mandates. 

“I  have  made  myself  familiar  with  this  by  reading  Danish- 
American  newspapers  and  I  have  been  expecting  something  to 
happen  to  these  same  papers;  but  it  is  something  that  has 
been  overlooked — its  virus  does  not  appear  on  the  surface  and,  in 
fact,  would  not  -be  apparent  unless  one  were  thoroughly  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  existing  situation.  To  be  brief,  the  Scandi¬ 
navian  press,  especially  the  Danish-American  press,  has  wittingly 
or  unwittingly  been  made  a  sewer  for  German  propaganda, 
smoothly  gotten  up;  but  there  is  plenty  of  it. 

“The  Danish-language  papers  of  Schleswig  are  more  rigidly 
German-censored  than  pure  German  publications.  These  papers 
find  their  way  to  Denmark.  Danish  papers  copy  and  then  are 
mailed  to  the  United  States.  Here  the  Scandinavian  language 
press  swallow  it  horns  and  all,  and  give  it  to  their  readers. 
This  consists  of  finely  gotten  up  ‘sob  stories’  from  the  German 
trenches,  especially,  always  emphasizing  and  extolling  their 
Christianity  and  deep  religious  feelings,  etc. 

“The  Government’s  attention  must  be  called  to  this  at  once. 
One  more  subject  I  wish  to  call  to  your  attention:  The  Allies 
have  a  most  potent  weapon  that  is  not,  but  should  be,  made  use  of 
at  once.  There  must  be  nearly  50,000,  perhaps  more,  Scandi¬ 
navians  serving  in  the  allied  ranks,  in  the  foreign  legions  of 
France,  in  the  Australian  ranks,  the  Canadians  and  thousands 
in  the  United  States  Expeditionary  Forces.  A  properly  handled 
systematic  plan,  wisely  conducted,  from  those  men  writing  to 
their  kindred  the  right  kind  of  letters  and  those  letters  given 
proper  publicity  in  the  towns  where  they  were  raised,  would 
not  only  knock  out  the  carefully  planned  German  propaganda, 
but  would  so  arouse  the  populace  that  instead  of  a  benevolent 
neutrality,  Germany  would  find  practically  every  neutral  a  hos¬ 
tile  enemy.  This  also  refers  to  Holland  and  Switzerland.  There 
are  no  Scandinavian  volunteers  serving  in  the  German  army, 
excepting  a  very  few  Junker  officers,  very  few. 

“I  am  a  Dane  by  birth.  I  know  what  could  be  done  and  I 
should  like  to  see  it  done  at  once.  This  Government  has  the 
services  of  my  two  boys  on  the  battle  line  in  France.  This 
Government  can  have  my  services  in  the  most  needed  capacity 
in  which  I  can  serve  in  the  capacity  I  have  so  briefly  outlined. 
It  is  a  large  field  of  labor,  promising  rich  results,  and  further 
increased  hostility  to  Germany  will  help  stop  her  from  being 
able  to  conduct  her  manufacturing  enterprises  from  other  lands 


52 


Propaganda 


after  the  war  is  over.  Have  I  made  myself  plain?  Do  you 
grasp  the  ‘big  game’  that  may  be  made  by  small  but  proper 
efforts?” 

SWITZERLAND. 

Switzerland  is  another  typical  stamping  ground.  Every  imagin¬ 
able  form  of  attack  on  the  Allies  is  practiced  there  from  commercial 
and  financial  colonization  to  the  ultimate  in  propaganda. 

A  discussion  of  the  Swiss  situation  by  Julian  Grande  appeared 
in  the  New  York  Times  of  June  10,  1918,  as  follows: 

“Berne,  May  17. — By  the  time  this  article  appears  I  hope  that 
the  diary  of  Dr.  Muhlon,  a  former  Director  of  Krupp,  will  be  on  sale 
in  Switzerland  and  in  the  hands  of  the  translators  in  England. 
The  importance  of  such  a  book  as  this  and  of  the  revelations  of 
Prince  Lichnowsky  can  scarcely  be  realized  except  by  those  who, 
like  myself,  have  lived  throughout  the  war  in  a  neutral  Eu¬ 
ropean  country  such  as  Switzerland  and  seen  the  profoundly 
penetrating  effects  of  German  propaganda. 

“Long  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  Germany  had  contrived 
to  place  in  the  editorial  offices  of  some  of  the  leading  German- 
Swiss  papers  men  who  were  originally  German  subjects,  but 
who  had  become  naturalized  as  Swiss.  These  men  were,  of 
course,  Swiss  only  in  name,  but  it  is  they  who  occupy  the  front 
pages  even  now  of  several  of  the  chief  German-Swiss  news¬ 
papers.  Occasionally,  by  way  of  variety  or  for  some  special  pur¬ 
pose,  there  is  an  Austrian  instead  of  a  German.  But  it  all  comes 
to  the  same  thing:  the  opinions  which  are  daily  instilled  into  the 
Swiss  public  by  these  men  are  German  opinions,  such  as  Germany 
wishes  to  prevail. 

“Nothing  could  testify  more  strongly  to  the  hold  which  Ger¬ 
many  has  acquired  upon  the  German-Swiss  press  than  the  fact 
that,  although  Prince  Lichnowsky’s  revelations  are  being  every¬ 
where  read  throughout  Switzerland,  yet  not  a  single  leading 
German-Swiss  newspaper  has  thought  it  worth  while  to  devote 
a  leading  article  to  them,  scarcely  even  a  paragraph.  The 
French-Swiss  press  has,  of  course,  had  long  articles  on  the  sub¬ 
ject. 

“Nevertheless,  I  hear  that  Prince  Lichnowsky’s  revelations, 
which  were  published  in  German  by  Orell  Fussli  of  Zurich  and 
in  French  by  Atar  of  Geneva,  quickly  ran  into  a  second  edition 
and  are  still  selling  by  thousands.  To  show  how  distasteful 
this  Lichnowsky  memorandum  is  to  the  German  Government  I 
may  mention  that  when  it  first  appeared  on  sale  in  Switzerland 
German  agents  bought  up  every  copy  they  could  find  in  the 
hope  that  it  would  not  reach  the  hands  of  the  public.  Presumably 
they  thought  that  the  publisher  had  published  only  a  couple  of 
thousand  copies  and  that,  if  they  bought  up  these,  nothing  more 
would  ever  be  heard  of  the  obnoxious  publication.  The  publisher, 
however,  advertised  the  revelation  in  large  type  in  the  Swiss 
daily  press;  the  public  saw  the  advertisements,  and  insisted 
upon  reading  the  revelations.  The  publisher,  I  presume,  real¬ 
ized  Germany’s  little  plot  and  immediately  issued  a  large  new 
edition,  and  now  every  kiosk  and  every  bookshop  in  Switzer¬ 
land  not  directly  in  the  hands  of  Germans  has  the  Lichnowsky 
revelations  on  sale  and  sells  them. 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


53 


“To  show  what  an  eye-opener  these  revelations  have  been  I 
may  quote  a  Swiss,  a  Bernese,  although  not,  I  admit,  a  slave  to 
German  propaganda.  He  said  to  me  only  two  days  ago  that  he 
had  never  yet  been  able  to  believe  that  all  the  guilt  for  the  war 
really  lay  at  Germany’s  door,  but  the  Lichnowsky  revelations  had 
opened  his  eyes  and  made  him  see  her  machinations  as  he  had 
never  done  before. 

“Dr.  Muhlon’s  book,  which  will  undoubtedly  open  still  more 
eyes,  is  to  be  published,  I  believe,  at  3  francs  only.  Now  that  I 
have  read  through  an  advance  copy,  I  may  say  that  it  is  singu¬ 
larly  timely  confirmation  of  Prince  Lichnowsky’s  revelations.  On 
certain  points,  for  instance,  on  which  Prince  Lichnowsky  does  not 
touch  or  scarcely  touches,  Dr.  Muhlon’s  evidence  is  profoundly 
interesting.  For  instance,  he  confirms  Germany’s  having  been 
very  anxious  to  plot  with  the  Pope.  An  entry  in  the  diary  dated 
September  5,  1914,  says: 

“  ‘The  present  schemers  are  very  great  sticklers  for  Roman 
Catholicism,  although  they  hate  it.  They  reflect,  however,  that 
there  are  a  great  number  of  Roman  Catholics,  and  that  they  must, 
therefore,  possess  a  great  deal  of  power.  In  particular,  they  are 
sounding  the  new  Pope,  and  are  very  anxious  about  the  results, 
he  being  reputed  to  be  a  political  Pontiff,  and  not  a  religious  one 
like  his  predecessor.  In  the  highest  quarters  in  Berlin  it  is 
whispered  that  the  Pope  is  no  fool;  and  that  although  his  per¬ 
sonal  predilections  go  toward  France,  this  does  not  prevent  him 
from  realizing  political  considerations. 

“  ‘The  idiots  in  Germany  really  seriously  believe  that  they 
can  induce  him  to  side  with  Germany  against  France  and  Bel¬ 
gium,  and  were  in  a  great  hurry  to  put  out  feelers,  thinking 
“first  come  first  served.”  A  highly  placed  personage,  a  Protestant, 
told  me  with  inexpressible  solemnity  that  the  Pope  was  now 
more  important  in  Germany  than  any  great  power,  and  particu¬ 
larly  the  present  Pope,  whom  he  had  known  as  a  Cardinal. 

“  ‘In  home  politics  also  the  leaders  in  Germany  today  attach 
a  great  deal  of  importance  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in 
other  words,  to  the  Centre  Party,  not  only  because  the  Roman 
Catholics,  being  so  powerful,  can  turn  the  scale  in  big  debates, 
but  also  because  they  are  believed  to  be  in  favor  of  the  annexation 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  countries  in  the  west.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  Centre  Party  includes  a  few  mischievious  agitators  such  as 
Erzberger,  who  allow  themselves  to  be  made  use  of  for  carrying 
out  Germany’s  designs  upon  Belgium,  because  whatever  may 
betide  they  are  determined  to  be  somebody.’ 

“An  interesting  confirmation  of  the  extent  to  which  the  Ger¬ 
mans  endeavored  to  influence  the  neutral  press  is  the  following 
entry,  dated  September  25,  1914: 

“  ‘Everywhere  the  German  Government  now  has  its  emissaries, 
whose  business  it  is,  not  to  convince  the  newspapers  of  neutral 
countries,  but  to  bribe  them  not  to  write  against  Germany.  No 
one  in  Germany  will  believe  that  there  is  a  more  effective  method 
than  bribery.  The  well-known  Reichstag  Deputy,  Erzberger, 
rascal  that  he  is,  is  of  great  assistance  to  our  Government  in 
this  respect.  He  even  writes  articles  himself,  which  are  after¬ 
ward  said  to  be  distributed  by  means  of  Government  money;  and 
I  remember  one  particular  article  of  his  which  began  by  assert¬ 
ing,  without  even  an  attempt  at  substantiation  or  proof,  that  the 
French  had  intended  to  violate  Swiss  neutrality  and  had  asked 
Switzerland  to  allow  them  to  march  through  her  territory  upon 
Germany,  but  had  been  prevented  from  doing  so  because  the 


54 


Propaganda 


Swiss  army  was  mobilized  against  France  only.  Any  one  who 
does  not  believe  this  better  go  and  read  the  article  in  Der  Tag.' 

“The  Germans,  Dr.  Muhlon  proceeds,  under  date  of  September 
26,  1914,  attempt  to  explain  their  unpopularity  by  alleging  that 
they  have  not  been  bribing  the  foreign  press  enough — bribing, 
be  it  noted,  not  enlightening  it. 

“Writing  on  October  5,  1914,  Dr.  Muhlon  remarks  that  it  was 
just  then  the  fashion  to  praise  the  Bavarian  troops  up  to  the 
skies.  He  himself  being  a  Bavarian,  can  testify  to  the  fact  that 
the  Bavarians,  perhaps  less  that  any  other  Germans,  know  why 
they  are  fighting  and  for  what.  They  were,  however,  he  says, 
reputed  to  be  the  best  fighters;  they  took  off  their  coats  so  as  to 
be  able  to  hit  harder,  and  they  stuck  their  long  pocket  knives 
into  everything  and  everyone  coming  in  their  way.  ‘They  give 
no  quarter,  and  therefore  ought  to  be  put  to  fight  the  British.’ 

“Referring  on  the  same  date  to  the  terrible  stories  in  circula¬ 
tion  about  East  Prussia  and  the  fighting  there  against  the  Russians, 
Dr.  Muhlon  states  that  everyone  was  saying,  with  entire  ap¬ 
proval,  that  not  only  were  the  Russians  driven  into  the  swamps, 
but  tens  of  thousands  who  would  have  surrendered  and  tried  to 
struggle  out  of  the  morass,  were  driven  in  again  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  until  they  were  drowned  or  suffocated. 

“An  order  was  issued  to  give  no  quarter,  ‘Too  many  prisoners 
could  not  be  used.’  The  cries  of  the  drowning  were  said  to  have 
been  heard  for  days  and  nights,  and  not  even  to  have  been  over¬ 
powered  by  the  roar  of  the  cannon.  Ninety  thousand  prisoners 
were  said  to  have  been  taken,  but  far  more  to  have  been  murdered 
when  they  were  helplessly  imploring  for  help.  Dr.  Muhlon  says 
that  he  cannot  personally  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this,  but  that 
everyone  in  Germany  was  repeating  such  stories,  and  no  one 
uttered  a  word  of  regret  or  indeed  did  anything  but  express  ap¬ 
proval.” 

A  further  testimony  not  only  to  the  activities  in  Switzerland 
but  to  German  propaganda  everywhere  as  a  military  power,  is  given 
by  a  recent  visitor  to  that  country,  interviewed  in  the  papers  of 
June  8,  1918 : 

“A  German  victory  would  mean  the  end  of  Swiss  independence 
twelve  months  after  peace  was  declared,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  Dr.  Frank  Bohn,  Secretary  of  the  Friends  of  German  Demo¬ 
cracy,  who  returned  recently  from  a  visit  abroad.  Dr.  Bohn 
spent  several  months  in  Switzerland.  He  made  the  prediction,  he 
said,  after  considering  that  Germany  was  .rapidly  seizing  the 
enormous  natural  resources  of  Switzerland.  He  said  that  if 
there  are  any  persons  in  America  who  still  depended  upon  the 
people  of  Germany  to  win  a  victory  for  us,  they  had  better  dis¬ 
illusion  themselves.  He  said  he  questioned  many  German  demo¬ 
cratic  exiles  in  Switzerland. 

“  ‘The  efforts  you  hear  of  through  the  press  are  merely  the 
carefully  laid  schemes  of  the  German  pacifist  propaganda,’  said 
Dr.  Bohn.  ‘This  propaganda  takes  a  hundred  forms.  It  per¬ 
meates  every  nook  and  corner  of  European  life.  If  through  some 
terrible  catastrophe  Germany  should  win,  history  will  report  that 
it  was  the  German  propaganda  that  was  the  decisive  factor. 
France  and  her  Allies  cannot  hold  the  German  propaganda  back 
in  Italy,  in  the  Balkans,  in  Russia  and  in  neutral  count.ri«* 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


55 


“  ‘The  story  of  that  propaganda  is  one  of  the  amazing  chapters 
in  the  history  of  this  generation.  Germany  is  spending  $5,000,000 
in  Switzerland  alone.  Every  one  of  her  hundreds  of  agents  in 
that  country  is  now  talking  peace,  peace,  peace.  Germany  has 
purchased  some  of  the  largest  newspapers  in  Switzerland.  Ger¬ 
man  press  service  reaches  every  country  weekly  in  that  country. 

“  ‘German  propaganda  can  only  be  made  to  fail  if  we  become 
permeated  with  the  basic  idea  of  absolute  victory  and  the  rea¬ 
sons  why  there  will  be  victory.  Anything  less  is  surrender  and 
treason,  treason  to  the  entire  well  being  of  civilization.  The  less 
we  think  of  peace  now  the  sooner  we  will  have  it  in  reality.’  ” 


The  German  effort  to  control  journalism  in  Switzerland  is  thus 
described  by  Carl  W.  Ackerman  in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post  of 
May  25,  1918 : 

“The  Swiss  press  is  sharply  divided.  In  the  French  part  of 
Switzerland  there  are  no  neutral  papers.  All  are  pro-Ally  as  far 
as  the  war  is  concerned,  though  intensely  pro-Swiss  at  all  times. 
In  German  Switzerland  many  of  the  influential  newspapers  are 
owned  by  German  capital  or  are  subject  to  German  influence, 
both  directly  and  indirectly.  Some  are  so  dependent  upon  Ger¬ 
many  for  news  and  coal  that  room  cannot  be  found  for  American 
news.  After  a  careful  study  of  the  newspapers  over  a  period  of 
three  months,  it  was  estimated  that  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the 
news  about  America  in  the  Swiss  papers  was  decidedly  antagon¬ 
istic. 

“Our  failures  and  miscalculations  have  been  advertised  almost 
daily,  with  the  result  that  many  thousands  of  Swiss  citizens  do 
not  consider  America’s  participation  in  the  war  seriously.  By 
April,  one  year  after  we  had  been  at  war  with  Germany,  practic¬ 
ally  nothing  had  been  done  to  explain  America’s  position.  Most 
of  the  news  of  us  has  been  ‘made  in  Germany,’  because  the  Ger¬ 
man  agencies  have  been  particularly  liberal  in  spreading  dissat¬ 
isfactory  reports  about  the  United  States.  The  excellent  reasons 
which  the  United  States  has  given  for  not  being  able  to  ship 
grain  to  Switzerland  immediately  have  not  been  explained  in 
the  press.  Nothing  has  been  done  to  contradict  the  German 
statement  that  the  American  forces  in  France  will  invade  Switz¬ 
erland. 

“German  propaganda,  however,  is  not  limited  to  the  Swiss 
press  nor  the  spreading  of  rumors  about  American  intentions. 
All  news  stands  in  German  Switzerland  are  controlled  by  a  Ger¬ 
man  syndicate.  The  leading  news  stands  in  Berne,  Zurich,  Basel, 
Lucerne  and  all  the  railroad  stations  Ifcmdle  only  German  and 
Swiss  newspapers. 

“The  first  part  of  this  year  a  correspondent  of  one  of  the  leading 
Swiss  newspapers  returned  from  the  United  States  with  material 
for  a  series  of  articles  on  America’s  war  preparations.  The  first 
article  he  called  ‘Why  America  Entered  the  War.’  It  had  to  be 
rewritten  three  times  before  the  editors  would  accept  it,  because 
they  feared  his  strong  statements  might  antagonize  the  ten 
thousand  German  readers  of  the  paper.  Finally,  when  the 
article  was  published  the  German  authorities  sent  word  to  the 
editor  that  unless  a  German  writer  was  permitted  to  answer  the 
articles  the  German  Government  would  have  to  stop  the  coal 
supply  to  the  paper. 


Propaganda 


5C> 


“When  the  great  offensive  was  launched  on  the  Western  Front 
the  French  Council  of  National  Defense  closed  all  frontiers,  espe¬ 
cially  the  border  stations  between  France  and  Switzerland. 
This  was  done  to  prevent  news  from  reaching  the  German  agents 
in  Switzerland  pertaining  to  the  movement  of  troops.  A  few 
days  later  the  German  Government  closed  the  Swiss-German  fron¬ 
tier  and  there  was  an  immediate  reaction  in  Switzerland.  The 
press  discovered  that  Switzerland  had  only  sufficient  coal  for  her 
industries  and  trains  to  run  about  two  weeks.  While  Germany 
may  have  taken  this  step  to  prevent  news  from  Germany  reach¬ 
ing  Switzerland  during  the  great  military  crisis  in  March  and 
April,  it  is  probable  that  the  German  Government  had  another 
object  in  view — namely,  that  of  impressing  upon  the  Swiss  Gov¬ 
ernment  and  people  the  dependence  upon  Germany  of  Swiss 
industries  and  railroads.” 


IRELAND. 

The  attempt  to  take  advantage  of  the  Irish  desire  for  indepen¬ 
dence  is  a  familiar  example  of  German  propaganda.  The  activ¬ 
ities  of  Sir  Roger  Casement  among  Irish  prisoners  in  Germany  and 
his  appearance  in  Ireland  from  a  submarine  added  to  the  em¬ 
barrassment  of  Great  Britain.  On  May  15th,  two  Germans  were 
captured  as  they  landed  on  the  coast  of  Ireland  from  a  submarine. 
Others  are  believed  to  have  arrived. 

The  efforts  of  England  to  give  Home  Rule  to  Ireland  and  to 
secure  assistance  instead  of  hostility  from  that  important  element 
in  the  British  Empire  have  been  largely  thwarted  through  the 
efforts  of  German  propagandists,  who  cheerfully  offer  Ireland  a 
freedom  that  Germany  has  given  to  no  one  else,  and  have  succeeded 
in  persuading  great  numbers  of  Irish  patriots  to  lend  a  passive 
or  active  aid  to  the  enemies  of  Ireland’s  old  ally,  France,  and  her 
chief  benefactor,  the  United  States. 

In  this  country  a  certain  group  of  irreconcilably  anti-British 
Irishmen  worked  hand  in  glove  with  the  Germans,  and  the  case 
of  Jeremiah  O’Leary  and  others  now  on  trial  reveals  the  extent  to 
which  the  conspiracy  was  carried  in  America. 

The  military  effecf  is  evident.  Instead  of  being  able  to  gain 
from  Ireland  a  great  army  of  soldiers  by  the  policy  of  conscription, 
to  which  all  the  Allies  have  submitted,  it  has  been  necessary  for 
England  to  keep  a  large  number  of  troops  in  Ireland  as  a  garrison 
against  open  revolt. 

German  propaganda  has  thereby  gained  a  triple  success:  An 
Irishman,  instead  of  taking  his  place  in  the  trenches,  withdraws  an 
Englishman  from  the  trenches ;  thus  enabling  a  German  whom  that 
Englishman  would  have  counterbalanced  to  combat  another  English 


Among  Neutral  Nations  57 

soldier.  In  short,  he  reduces  the  English  quota  by  two  and  adds 
one  to  the  German. 

Cables  from  England  of  June  26,  1918,  state: 


“London,  June  26. — Seditious  propaganda,  in  the  form  of  pos¬ 
ters,  poems,  pamphlets  and  other  literature,  has  begun  to  make 
its  appearance  in  many  sections  of  Ireland,  and  the  government 
learns  that  they  are  from  German  sources.  Ireland  is  known 
to  be  in  direct  communication  with  Germany,  and  submarines 
have  been  showing  themselves  off  the  Irish  coast  at  localities 
where  destruction  of  ships  could  not  be  their  object. 

“These  are  some  of  the  revelations  that  are  stirring  Parlia¬ 
ment  to  action  and  which  caused  Premier  Lloyd  George  to  appeal 
in  the  house  for  immediate  settlement  of  the  Irish  question.  The 
delay  is  not  only  presenting  difficulties  for  England,  but  is  ham¬ 
pering  the  United  States  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

“Edward  Shortt,  chief  secretary  for  Ireland,  declared  that 
he  would  prove  that  the  German  plot  in  Ireland  was  a  real  im¬ 
minent  danger  and  not  a  myth. 

“Mr.  Shortt  quoted  several  posters  that  are  conspicuously 
posted  throughout  Ireland,  one  of  which  reads: 

“  ‘Any  straw  and  fodder  taken  by  the  German  army  will  be 
paid  for  by  Germany.’  This  is  only  one,  he  said,  of  many  posters 
of  this  nature.” 


From  an  elaborate  history  of  this  agitation  in  the  United  States, 
prepared  by  the  Military  Intelligence  Branch,  this  synopsis  may 
be  quoted  as  a  bird’s-eye  view  of  Irish  propaganda  in  the  United 
States  and  its  connection  with  enemy  activities.  It  should  not  be 
taken  as  a  complete  statement  of  all  the  information  available. 

The  following  conclusions  are  offered  as  fairly  deducible : 

Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1914  and  until  the  beginning 
of  1915,  Irish  agitation  in  the  United  States  had  no  strong  financial 
backing  and  was  rather  anaemic. 

Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  German  High  Commission  in 
September,  1914,  a  virulent  German  propaganda  started  under 
Dr.  Dernburg  and  others.  The  potentialities  of  the  Irish  organiza¬ 
tions  were  too  obvious  to  be  overlooked  and  their  services  were 
engaged. 

During  1915,  certain  Irish  leaders  were  openly  associated  with 
German  propagandists  in  efforts  to  discredit  the  cause  of  the  Allies, 
and  to  prevent  the  manufacture  and  shipment  of  munitions.  These 
movements  were  financed  with  German  money. 

During  the  early  part  of  1916,  the  efforts  of  both  parties  and 
funds  supplied  by  Germany  were  devoted  to  causing  revolution  in 
Ireland.  This  culminated  in  the  Easter  uprising  in  which  Irish- 
Americans  took  a  definite  part. 


58 


Propaganda 


After  the  fiasco  of  the  Easter  uprising,  some  of  the  Irish  element 
became  disaffected,  because  of  the  belief,  voiced  by  Casement,  that 
the  Germans  were  using  the  Irish  as  tools. 

The  professional  agitators,  like  O’Leary  and  Devoy,  continued 
their  activities  in  open  connection  with  German  agencies.  A  bitter 
political  campaign  was  conducted  by  both  parties  during  the  presi¬ 
dential  and  Congressional  elections  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  1916. 

Since  the  beginning  of  1917  the  Irish  agitation  has  become 
progressively  more  intense.  The  declaration  of  war  had  little 
effect  on  the  campaign  conducted  by  The  Friends  of  Irish  Freedom, 
The  Irish  Progressive  League,  Bull,  and  the  Gaelic-American, 
except  that  it  masqueraded  as  a  purely  Irish  patriotic  movement. 
The  connection  with  German  agents,  however,  clearly  appears,  and 
it  is  believed  that  Mme.  Yictorica  stimulated  and  financed  the 
campaign. 

It  has  been  denied  that  the  Sinn-Feiners  of  Ireland  had  direct 
relations  with  the  German  Government,  and  it  is  still  denied,  but 
the  British  Government  has  issued  an  official  statement,  including 
the  following  paragraphs: 


“For  some  considerable  time  it  was  difficult  to  obtain  accurate 
information  as  to  German-Sinn-Fein  plans,  but  about  April,  1918, 
it  was  ascertained  definitely  that  a  plan  for  landing  arms  in 
Ireland  was  ripe  for  execution,  and  that  the  Germans  only 
awaited  definite  information  from  Ireland  as  to  the  time,  place 
and  date. 

“The  British  authorities  were  able  to  warn  the  Irish  com¬ 
mand  regarding  the  probable  landing  of  an  agent  from  Germany 
from  a  submarine.  The  agent  actually  landed  on  April  12  and 
was  arrested. 

“The  new  rising  depended  largely  upon  the  landing  of  muni¬ 
tions  from  submarines,  and  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  it  was 
planned  to  follow  a  successful  German  offensive  in  the  west  and 
was  to  take  place  at  a  time  when  Great  Britain  presumably 
would  be  stripped  of  troops. 

“According  to  documents  found  on  his  person,  de  Valera  had 
worked  out  in  great  detail  the  constitution  of  his  rebel  army.  He 
hoped  to  be  able  to  muster  500,000  trained  men.  There  is  evidence 
that  German  munitions  actually  had  been  shipped  on  submarines 
from  Cuxhaven  in  the  beginning  of  May,  and  that  for  some  time 
German  submarines  have  been  busy  off  the  west  coast  of  Ireland 
on  other  errands  than  the  destruction  of  Allied  shipping. 

“It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  negotiations  between  the  execu¬ 
tive  of  the  Sinn-Fein  organization  and  Germany  have  been  virt¬ 
ually  continuous  for  three  and  a  half  years.  At  first  a  section  of 
Irish-Americans  was  the  intermediary  for  most  of  the  discussions, 
but  since  America’s  entrance  into  the  war  the  communi¬ 
cation  with  the  enemy  has  tended  to  be  more  direct.  A  second 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


59 


rising  in  Ireland  was  planned  for  last  year,  and  the  scheme  broke 
down  only  because  Germany  was  unable  to  send  troops. 

“This  year  plans  for  another  rising  in  connection  with  the 
German  offensive  on  the  Western  Front  were  maturing,  and  a 
new  shipment  of  arms  from  Germany  was  imminent. 

“An  important  feature  of  every  plan  was  the  establishment 
of  submarine  bases  in  Ireland  to  menace  the  shipping  of  all  na¬ 
tions. 

“In  the  circumstances  no  other  course  was  open  to  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  if  useless  bloodshed  was  to  be  avoided  and  its  duty  to 
its  allies  fulfilled  but  to  intern  the  authors  and  abettors  of  this 
criminal  intrigue. 

“Mr.  Lloyd  George  also  reiterated  in  his  speech  at  Edinburgh 
his  assertion  that  the  Government  possess  irrefutable  evidence  of  a 
conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  Sinn-Feiners,  though  he  completely 
exonerated  the  Nationalist  leaders  of  any  complicity  in  a  plot.  He 
said: 

“  ‘All  the  indications  in  our  possession  point  to  the  fact  that 
the  blow  was  timed  for  the  moment  when  the  German  High 
Command  deemed  its  preparations  to  crush  the  British  Army  in 
France  had  reached  the  culminating  point.  Had  we  shirked  stern 
action  without  delay  we  should  h^ve  deserved  impeachment. 

“  ‘Let  me  make  one  point  clear:  The  Irish  Nationalist  leaders 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  They  were  not  even  cognizant  of  it. 
Of  that  I  am  convinced  from  the  evidence.  I  am,  therefore,  not 
in  the  least  surprised  at  the  doubts  they  expressed  as  to  its  exist¬ 
ence.’  ” 

The  London  Daily  Mail  sums  np  the  situation  as  follows : 

“This,  we  are  perfectly  confident,  is  the  state  of  affairs  which 
American  opinion  will  immediately  pronounce  intolerable,  and 
which  the  United  States  Government  will  do  its  utmost  to  eradi¬ 
cate,  for  the  Sinn-Feiners  were  -aiming  at  the  establishment  of 
German  submarine  bases  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  whence  they 
might  prey  on  the  lives  of  American  soldiers  crossing  the  At¬ 
lantic  to  the  battle  fields  of  Flanders.  They  are  aiding  the  enemy 
of  the  United  States  to  use  the  most  deadly  weapon  against  the 
American  Army  and  Navy — the  weapon  which,  if  it  succeeded, 
would  paralyze  America’s  effort  and  strew  the  ocean  with  Amer¬ 
ica’s  dead.” 

AUSTRALIA. 

Even  Australia  has  felt  the  virus  of  German  intrigue.  A  former 
Attorney  General  of  Australia,  Mr.  W.  J.  Denny,  contributed  to 
the  New  York  Times  an  account  of  it  that  shows  the  attitude  of 
the  German  scientist  in  contrast  to  the  scientists  of  other  nations. 
The  Teutonic  professors  in  Germany  had  already  dismayed  the 
world  by  their  surrender  to  militarism  at  home.  The  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Denny  reveals  them  further : 

“To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times: 

“On  that  fateful  day  of  August  4,  1914,  when  war  was  declared 
between  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  the  Society  for  the  Advance¬ 
ment  of  Science,  one  of  the  most  eminent  coteries  of  knowledge 


00 


Propaganda 


in  the  world,  met  in  Australia  for  the  first  time.  We  felt  honored, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  council  of  the  Adelaide  University  I  was 
privileged  to  be  present. 

“Naturally,  the  dread  announcement  overshadowed  everything, 
including  science.  Anti-German  feeling  became  manifest;  but  in 
those  foolish  old  days  we  regarded  our  guests  as  merely  ‘victims’ 
of  the  Kaiser’s  dream  of  world  domination. 

“A  venerable  and  kindly  looking  old  German  professor  of 
worldwide  fame,  with  many  academic  degrees,  rose  to  address 
the  brilliant  assemblage.  He  was  greeted  with  a  chorus  of  sym¬ 
pathetic  cheers.  ‘No  one/  he  said,  ‘deplores  this  terrible  conflict 
of  physical  against  mental  and  moral  force  more  than  I  do.’  He 
was  believed.  The  sessions  of  the  society  removed  to  Melbourne, 
and  the  amiable  professor  was  everywhere  sympathetically  re¬ 
ceived.  He  was  pitied.  Then  rumors  commenced  to  circulate. 
It  was  alleged  that  his  private  sentiments  were  not  consistent 
with  his  public  statements  or  with  his  role  of  a  disinterested 
scientist.  The  authorities  took  action,  and,  despite  strong  pro¬ 
tests  from  this  ‘victim’  of  the  war,  searched  his  valise  and  found 
concealed  in  a  small  pocket  a  complete  copy  of  the  official  plans 
of  the  naval  fortifications  and  defenses  of  Melbourne!  Needless 
to  say,  he  was  promptly  and  effectively  dealt  with;  the  plans 
never  reached  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 

“Another  case  was  not  dissimilar.  This  professor  also  in¬ 
gratiated  himself  with  his  fellow-scientists,  and  to  a  friend  re¬ 
marked  : 

“  ‘It  is  so  terrible  to  be  away  from  Germany  and  my  people  at 
this  anxious  time.’  . 

“  ‘Yes,  indeed,’  was  the  friend’s  answer,  ‘your  wife  and  family 
will  feel  it  deeply.’ 

“  ‘Oh,  it  is  not  that/  replied  the  professor,  ‘but  to  be  absent 
from  the  Fatherland  at  this  time  of  spiritual  awakening  is  be¬ 
yond  endurance.’ 

“The  friend  had  not  then  read  Treitschke,  Nietzsche,  and  the 
host  of  Hun  philosophers,  statesmen,  soldiers,  and  poets  on  the 
true  significance  of  the  spiritual  awakening.  He  had  not  then 
read  the  Kaiser’s  proclamation,  ‘I  am  the  instrument  of  the  Most 
High.  I  am  His  sword  and  representative.  Death  and  disaster 
to  those  who  resist  my  will.’  This  friend  was  soon  to  learn  of 
German  perfidy;  but  meantime  the  professor  had  made  certain 
discoveries,  the  sessions  broke  up,  and  he  escaped! 

“But  these  and  other  lessons  were  not  lost.  An  effective  cam¬ 
paign  against  Hun  influence  was  at  once  launched.  Every  Ger¬ 
man  school  was  closed,  every  German  newspaper  suppressed,  the 
German  language  was  prohibited,  pro-German  members  of  all 
public  and  private  bodies  were  retired,  every  German  town  name 
was  altered,  and  all  trade  contracts  annulled.  And  the  Australian 
Prime  Minister  is  now  able  to  declare  that  Australia  had  cut  out 
the  last  vestige  of  the  cancer  of  German  influence  and  com¬ 
mercialism. 

“Germany  alone,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  sends  spies 
and  emissaries  to  corrupt,  disintegrate,  and  destroy  free  and 
peace-loving  peoples.  No  one  ever  heard  of  American,  English, 
or  Australian  spies — professors  or  otherwise — plotting  against 
Germany.  But  German  spies  and  German  money  and  German 
influence  permeated  the  earth,  scheming  to  make  the  war  map 
favorable  for  ‘Der  Tag.’  Every  grade  of  society  was  ushered 
into  the  service  of  the  Wilhelmstrasse  to  further  the  Kaiser’s 
interests,  to  spread  poisonous  literature,  to  dismember  States,  to 


Among  Neutral  Nations 


61 


sow  feuds,  to  promote  uprisings,  to  commit  outrages.  ‘Friendly’ 
countries  were  to  be  weakened  and  if  necessary,  destroyed,  to 
assist  German  aims  in  the  carefully  planned  and  inevitable 
world  war. 

“America  has  had  many  portents  of  Hun  policy.  The  Kaiser’s 
own  declarations  to  Mr.  Gerard  are  on  record.  But  General  von 
Bernhardi’s  disclosures  of  how  Germany  would  treat  the  United 
States  are  not  so  well  known — ‘Since  England  committed  the  un¬ 
pardonable  blunder,  from  her  point  of  view,  of  not  supporting  the 
Southern  States  in  the  American  war  of  secession,  a  rival  to  Eng¬ 
land’s  worldwide  empire  has  appeared  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic.’  In  other  words,  Germany  would  not  have  committed 
that  unpardonable  blunder.  She  would  have  supported  the  South¬ 
ern  States  and  prevented  the  Union,  not  because  the  former  were 
right,  but  because  a  United  States  would  have  stood  in  the  path 
of  German  aggression. 

“How,  then,  can  German  propaganda  best  be  defeated? 
‘Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty’  is  the  answer.  Every 
case  should  therefore  be  treated  on  its  merits.  Facts,  not  out¬ 
ward  appearances,  must  alone  decide.  But  vigilance  must  be 
guided  by  justice  and  have  no  bad  motives.  To  circulate  unfair 
or  misleading  reports,  to  give  information  through  malice  or  ‘to 
work  off  a  grudge  is  as  un-American  as  it  is  un-British. 

“But  at  all  costs  and  at  all  hazards  every  pro-German  must  be 
discovered  and  scotched — once  and  forever.  Till  that  time  comes 
no  nation  can  be  free.” 


I 


I 


CHAPTER  III. 


VARIOUS  FORMS  OF  PROPAGANDA. 

THE  CONTINENTAL  TIMES. 

The  Germans  have  carried  their  propaganda  to  the  extent  of 
publishing  not  only  the  Gazette  des  Ardennes  in  French  (see  the 
previous  reference  to  the  Bonnet  Rouge)  but  also  a  newspaper  in 
the  English  language.  This  is  printed  in  Berlin  with  branch  offices 
in  Hamburg,  Rotterdam  and  Zurich.  It  is  called  “An  independent 
cosmopolitan  newspaper  published  in  the  interests  of  truth!”  It 
was  subsidized  by  the  German  Foreign  Office,  the  subsidy  taking  the 
form  of  the  purchase  of  50,000  copies  of  each  issue.  The  “respon¬ 
sible  editor”  is  an  irresponsible  English  renegade,  named  Aubrey 
Stanhope.  One  of  his  chief  aides  has  been  a  renegade,  American- 
born  writer  who  has  become  a  willing  tool  of  the  Germans.  His 
parents  were  German,  but  he  was  educated  in  the  United  States, 
and  attained  some  distinction  both  as  a  poet  and  a  painter.  It  is 
stated  that  the  success  of  a  play  of  his  in  Berlin  convinced  him  of 
the  superiority  of  the  Germans  to  all  other  races. 

Under  the  pretense  of  making  water-color  sketches  he  spent 
several  months  in  the  Orkney  Islands.  It  was  discovered  that 
he  was  really  making  observations  for  Germany,  and  he  was  put 
out  of  England.  He  established  himself  eventually  in  Switzerland 
and  Germany,  where  he  has  been  concerned  in  the  publication  of 
the  Continental  Times. 

'  This  American  poet  opposed  his  own  country  bitterly  during 
the  prosecution  of  the  Spanish-American  war,  and  now  he  finds 
no  language  too  strong  to  express  his  contempt  for  us  and  his 
idolatry  for  Germany.  He  is  so  Germanophile  that  in  a  pamphlet 
called  “A  Letter  from  an  American  to  an  Englishman,”  published 
in  the  United  States  by  a  German  (since  interned),  he  declared  the 
Germans  to  be  such  a  noble  race  that  anyone  who  opposes  them, 
either  by  peace  or  war,  commits  a  horrible  offense  against  civil¬ 
ization. 

The  Continental  Times  has  been  distributed  on  many  occasions 
by  airships  among  the  British  front  lines  and  latterly  among  the 
American.  The  majority  of  the  soldiers  are  immune  to  such  appeal 
just  as  the  majority  of  them  are  unharmed  by  the  gas  shells 
sent  over  sometimes  at  the  rate  of  20,000  a  day.  But  the  effect  is 
62 


Various  Forms 


63 


equally  military,  and  the  end  is  the  same :  to  destroy  the  effective¬ 
ness  of  our  troops. 

Such  papers  as  the  Continental  Times  are  supplied  with  material 
not  only  by  Germans  and  by  Americans  living  in  voluntary  exile 
abroad,  but  also  by  quotations  from  Americans  living  in  America 
and  opposing  our  cause  from  here. 

The  speeches  of  certain  Senators  and  Congressmen,  editorials 
and  sensational  news,  articles  from  various  newspapers  and  maga¬ 
zines,  criticisms  of  the  efficiency  or  sincerity  of  our  leaders,  have 
been  copied  and  widely  distributed  by  the  Continental  Times ,  and 
by  the  German  papers  in  Spain  and  Spanish  America.  They  suffer 
nothing  in  the  translation,  and  they  give  an  impression  of  dissen¬ 
sion,  despair  and  feebleness  in  the  United  States,  picturing  this 
country  alternately  as  in  the  throes  of  financial  distress  and  as 
trying  to  extend  her  tyranny  over  the  entire  new  world. 

A  favorite  line  of  propaganda,  which  undoubtedly  had  a  power¬ 
ful  influence  in  keeping  many  South  American  nations  from  join¬ 
ing  us  in  declaring  war  on  German}^,  was  the  statement  of  the 
impossibility  of  our  either  raising  an  army  or  getting  it  overseas. 
The  Liberty  Loans  were  declared  to  be  complete  fiascos,  American 
finance  a  wreck,  the  draft  a  failure,  and  the  equipment  of  our 
troops  an  utter  breakdown. 

Ridiculous  as  are  the  lies  that  many  of  these  papers  publish, 
it  is  shamefully  true  that  much  of  their  best  material  is  accurately 
quoted  from  Americans  who  have  abused  the  freedom  of  press  and 
speech  and  devoted  their  talents  to  opposing  the  success  of  every 
military  step  taken  by  this  country.  / 

PEACE  OFFENSIVES. 

The  versatility  of  the  propagandists  is  amazing.  Germany  has 
set  her  most  eminent  psychologists  to  work;  her  scientists,  pub¬ 
lishers,  authors,  editors,  playwrights,  film-producers,  poets, 
preachers. 

There  seems  to  be  no  trickery  to  which  they  will  not  stoop. 

At  times  it  serves  their  purposes  to  picture  Germany  as  pros¬ 
trate  with  starvation  and  torn  to  pieces  with  revolution.  At  others 
she  is  invincible,  united,  and  fat. 

The  German  peace  drives  are  notoriously  insincere.  Since  they 
have  been  proved  to  be  opening  bombardments  preparatory  to  the 
actual  attack,  they  have  come  to  be  called  “peace  offensive^.” 


64 


Propaganda 


The  German  militarists  realize  that  when  they  undertake  a 
push  by  force  of  arms,  everything  that  weakens  the  determination 
of  the  enemy  is  as  good  as  a  bullet,  or  better.  The  most  generous 
hints  of  the  longing  for  peace  are  therefore  put  forth  along  with 
stories  of  a  complete  breakdown  in  preparation  or  morale,  or  as 
the  occasion  requires.  The  influence  of  these  would  naturally  be 
to  soften  the  hearts  of  their  enemies,  or  give  them  a  sense  of  false 
security. 

They  endeavor,  on  the  other  hand,  at  times  to  frighten  the 
soldiers  into  panic.  They  picture  German  architecture  wrecked  by 
Allied  airships  and  threaten  reprisals  of  terrible  extent.  Among 
the  pamphlets  sent  into  the  Allied  lines  recently  by  balloons  and 
from  airships,  or  otherwise  smuggled  in,  there  have  been  countless 
leaflets  of  appeal  for  peace  urging  the  Allied  soldiers  to  surrender 
and  avoid  bloodshed  and  the  destruction  of  their  home  towns. 

The  contradictoriness  of  these  appeals  does  not  disturb  the  Ger¬ 
mans,  since  they  hope  that  what  does  not  capture  one  Allied  mood 
will  capture  another. 

An  eloquent  exposure  of  German  peace  offensives  is  made  by 
Professor  George  D.  Herron,  who  was  accused  of  conducting  nego¬ 
tiations  with  Germany  from  Switzerland.  He  indignantly  denied 
the  charge  and  has  given  his  opinion  of  German  propaganda  in 
the  New  York  Times  for  June  30,  1918: 

“Germany’s  new  peace  offensive  has  begun.  As  carefully  pre¬ 
pared,  as  scientifically  worked  out,  as  the  military  offensive  it  is 
meant  to  parallel,  and  employing  the  same  mass  tactics,  the  peace 
army  is  already  crossing  the  Rhine;  soon  it  will  be  swarming 
over  Switzerland.  Soon,  as  on  former  occasions,  will  its  wheed¬ 
ling  proposals,  its  whining  voices,  be  echoing  from  Alp  to  Alp, 
be  resounding  in  the  streets  of  the  Swiss  cities.  Especially  will 
these  hosts  of  the  German  good-will  set  up  their  lamentations, 
their  shameless  rehearsals,  by  the  doorsteps  of  English  and 
American  citizens  who  now  make  Switzerland  their  home. 

“Let  us  prepare  for  the  worst.  All  the  physical  horrors,  the 
unimaginable  savageries,  the  new  and  original  sensualities,  that 
are  the  inevitable  commonplace  of  German  military  progress — 
these  will  have  their  counterpart  in  the  spiritual  horrors,  in  the 
mental  and  moral  grossness,  in  the  serpentry  and  charlatanry, 
of  this  approaching  offensive  for  a  German  peace.  Nor  let  us 
forget,  furthermore,  that  the  peace  offensive  may  prove  more 
dangerous  to  the  Entente  and  to  America,  more  perilous  to  the 
cause  of  democracy,  more  destructive  to  the  moral  being  of  hu¬ 
manity,  than  all  the  might  of  the  co-ordinated  German  armies. 

“Each  peace  offensive  of  Germany  comes  with  its  own  special 
theme.  When  her  military  triumph  seemed  in  doubt,  her  emis¬ 
saries  perpetrated  in  Petrograd  the  vile  deception  of  ‘no  an¬ 
nexations  and  no  indemnities.’  With  the  threads  of  this  satanic 
web  the  pacifist  weavers  overran  the  world.  If  the  Entente  and 


Various  Forms 


65 


America  had  only  been  caught  in  the  web,  then  by  the  principle 
of  ‘no  annexations  and  no  indemnities’  Germany  could  have  re¬ 
tained  Alsace-Lorraine  and  Poland,  and  have  achieved  the  mon¬ 
strous  injustice  of  leaving  Belgium  unindemnified  and  unrestored. 
The  trick  failed;  the  German  web  was  dissolved  in  the  imbecile 
grief  of  the  pacifists. 

“The  trick  next  tried  was  the  scarcely  concealed  hypocrisy  of 
Count  Hertling’s  deliverance  before  the  Reichstag — his  crude  pre¬ 
tense  of  accepting  President  Wilson’s  famous  Four  Principles. 
It  was  then  that  Germany’s  peace  army  so  crowded  Switzerland 
that  there  was  scarcely  room  for  enlightened  or  honest  men  to 
stand  in.  Some  of  us  suffered  what  I  fear  will  be  a  permanent 
exhaustion  as  a  result  of  then  trying  to  follow  the  twistings  and 
turnings  of  the  German  mentality. 

“The  Four  Principles  must  be  so  interpreted,  according  to 
the  peace  mongers,  that  the  question  of  Alsace-Lorraine  be  not 
touched.  Untouched,  also,  must  be  the  question  of  Poland.  Nor 
must  the  question  of  Belgium’s  indemnities  be  raised  in  such 
way  as  to  put  Germany  in  the  wrong.  Germany  must  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  accept  the  Four  Principles  in  shadow  and  reject  them 
in  substance.  They  must  be  so  applied,  when  the  peace  congress 
should  assemble,  as  to  give  Germany  everything  she  wanted. 

“The  second  trick  failed,  as  the  first  had  failed.  The  peace 
army  was  unable  to  so  capture  and  exploit  the  Four  Principles 
as  to  make  our  President  the  unwilling  medium  of  a  German 
peace. 

“And  we  are  to  learn  that  it  is  his  fault  that  peace  was  not 
long  ago  concluded,  and  that  Germany  was  compelled  to  make 
the  present  offensive.  If  President  Wilson  had  been  a  little 
more  conciliatory  each  time  he  spoke;  if  he  had  only  begged 
Germany  a  little  harder  to  stop  fighting;  if  he  had  only  told  her 
that  she  could  keep  Alsace-Lorraine — and  all  other  parts  of  the 
world  she  could  lay  hands  on;  then,  at  one  time  or  another, 
Germany  might  have  made  peace.  But  just  because  the  American 
President  has  been  so  misinformed  about  Germany,  just  because 
he  has  not  been  patient  enough  in  beseching  and  understanding 
this  truthful  and  tender-hearted  people,  the  sorrowing  Hinden- 
burg  and  Archangel  Ludendorff  are  now  compelled  to  lead  the 
weeping  German  army  against  the  enemies  they  love  and  would 
so  gladly  save.  It  is  upon  the  imperious  soul  of  our  President 
that  the  woeful  responsibility  of  the  present  German  military 
offensive  rests. 

“It  is  a  peace  offensive,  O  stupid  Englishmen  and  Americans — 
a  peace  offensive,  mind  you,  not  a  military  offensive,  that  Ger¬ 
many  is  pursuing  by  this  unimaginable  slaughter  on  the  Somme 
and  in  Flanders.  Has  not  this  been  explained  to  us,  oh,  so  sadly, 
oh,  so  sweetly,  by  the  hither-hastening  heralds  of  the  peace  army? 
The  new  death  roll  of  a  million  of  men — which  Germany  has  so 
quickly  written  in  France — is  an  appeal  for  peace.  Do  you  not! 
understand?  The  far-firing  gun  which  slew  a  church  full  of 
worshippers,  including  the  beloved  honored  M.  and  Mme.  Stroehlin 
of  the  Swiss  Legation;  the  bomb  that  crushed  the  public  nursery 
of  toddling  children,  tended  during  the  absence  of  their  working 
mothers;  these  were  peace  measures — the  only  method  by  which 
the  pitiful  German  could  reach  the  hard-hearted  Frenchman  and 
Englishman.  Is  not  this  perfectly  clear?  And  the  bomb  that 
dropped  into  a  little  Paris  birthroom,  where  a  baby  that  had  been 
an  hour  born  was  blown  to  fragments,  along  with  its  mother 
and  the  attending  sagefemme — especially  should  incidents  like 


66 


Propaganda 


this,  according  to  Germany’s  interpretation  of  her  offensive,  have 
a  soothing  effect  on  American  nerves  and  persuade  our  President 
to  enter  into  relations  of  blood-brotherhood  with  the  Kaiser. 

“There  need  be  no  doubt  on  the  part  of  Germany  that  her 
present  military  offensive  is  having  an  effect  upon  American 
nerves,  upon  American  minds,  upon  American  wills — such  an 
effect  as  will  make  the  preparing  peace  offensive  as  useless  as  it 
is  loathsome — ending  forever  any  American  thought  of  discussing 
peace  with  Germany’s  masters. 

“Not  from  America  will  Germany  receive  peace — not  if  Ger¬ 
many  has  all  Europe  in  her  hands;  not  if  America  must  fight  for 
a  hundred  years.  Nor  now,  nor  at  any  time  in  the  future,  nor  in 
the  shadow  of  any  conceivable  German  triumph,  nor  while  a 
single  American  flag  widens  to  one  of  the  world’s  breezes,  will 
America  or  Americans  make  peace  with  the  Germany  that  now 
is.  Either  the  Germany  that  now  is  or  America  must  cease  to 
dwell  upon  this  planet;  for  Germany  is  making  the  planet  un¬ 
inhabitable  for  men  who  can  really  claim  to  be  human.  Either 
Germany  must  utterly  cease  to  be  what  sho  is,  or  she  must  fight 
America  until  she  or  America  come  to  an  end;  for  there  breathes 
no  true  American  who  does  not  now  prefer  death  for  himself, 
for  his  beloved  ones,  and  for  his  country,  to  any  life  that  he  or 
they  could  possibly  live  in  a  world  that  had  become  a  German 
dominion. 

“I  am  speaking,  it  is  true,  as  a  single  unofficial  individual; 
but  I  am  no  less  voicing  the  increasing  feeling  of  the  American 
nation  as  a  whole,  and  of  the  average  American  man.” 

GERMAN  PROPAGANDA  IN  GERMANY. 

While  there  has  been  incessant  effort  to  convince  the  German 
people  of  the  divinity  of  the  imperial  family,  they  have  grown  in¬ 
creasingly  restless  under  its  pretensions  and  insolences  and  under 
the  exactions  of  famine,  death  and  commercial  confusion. 

It  has  been  necessary,  therefore,  to  give  them  sedatives  and 
stimulants  in  the  form  of  propaganda.  As  anything  that  keeps 
them  fighting  must  also  keep  us  fighting,  it  is  interesting  to 
select  from  the  enormous  mass  of  German  propaganda  against  Ger¬ 
many  a  few  typical  examples  of  how  America  is  presented  to  Ger¬ 
many  over  a  year  after  our  declaration  of  war. 

At  first  the  German  people  were  assured  that  the  United  States 
would  be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  uprising  of  the  millions  of  its  German 
sympathizers.  When  this  lie  failed,  they  were  told  that  the  United 
States  neither  would  nor  could  raise  an  army;  next  that  having 
raised  one,  it  could  neither  transport  it  nor  supply  it  across  the 
submarine-controlled  ocean. 

The  sinking  of  the  Tuscania  with  the  loss  of  200  soldiers  was 
trumpeted  as  the  proof  of  this  prophecy.  When  it  could  no  longer 
be  denied  that  American  troops  were  arriving,  the  next  step  was 
to  minimize  their  numbers.  Following  that,  it  was  necessary  to 


Various  Forms 


67 


discredit  their  value;  they  were  called  “lightning-trained”  and 
unimportant  against  the  German  soldiers  trained  to  militarism  from 
childhood. 

Simultaneously  much  advertisement  was  made  of  the  inability 
of  the  United  States  to  provide  equipment  or  even  to  run  its  trains 
or  coal  its  ships.  The  coal  shortage  was  celebrated  as  proof  of  com¬ 
plete  breakdown.  The  aircraft  and  shipbuilding  delay  as  another. 
Criticisms  by  Americans  in  Congress  or  the  press  were  published 
broadcast. 

The  first  American  prisoners  captured  were  paraded  about  Ger¬ 
many  and  their  alleged  confessions  of  hopeless  inferiority  printed  to¬ 
gether  with  statements  that  the  war  was  neither  understood  nor 
approved  in  America. 

The  Kreuz-Z eitung ,  the  ultra-militarist  organ,  published  a  two 
column  article  showing  that  the  United  States  was  a  nation  of 
plebeians  made  up  of  immigrants. 

American  seamen  were  represented  as  green  and  ignorant  and 
incapable  of  running  the  engines  of  the  ships  they  confiscated. 

Financial  panic  ruled  in  the  United  States,  according  to  the 
German  papers,  and  it  was  necessary  to  curb  the  fears  by  threats  of 
lynching. 

The  suppression  of  the  German  language  newspapers  or  their 
alignment  with  the  loyal  elements  was  described  by  some  as  a 
proof  of  American  tyranny,  by  others  as  a  proof  of  the  treachery 
of  low-class  German  immigrants  to  their  Yaterland. 

The  Overman  bilks  centralization  of  power  in  the  President  was 
said  by  the  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung  of  April  23,  1918, 
to  “reveal  the  secret  longing  for  the  German  unity  and  efficiency.” 

An  excellent  study  of  the  German  newspapers,  their  censorship, 
the  things  they  dare  to  say  and  dare  not  say,  and  their  influence 
as  means  of  governmental  propaganda  is  to  be  found  in  Victor 
S.  Clark’s  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  July,  1918,  “The 
German  Press  and  German  Opinion.” 

Eidicule  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  keenest  tools  for  propaganda. 
The  German  humorists  did  not  fail  to  make  hay  while  the  sun 
shone.  A  cloud  has  come  over  their  gaiety,  according  to  a  writer 
in  the  Yew  York  Times: 

“The  German  sense  of  humor  has  undergone  a  radical  change, 
and  cartoons  depicting  the  American  Army  a  pigmy  no  longer 
make  the  German  people  laugh.  Travelers  returning  from  the 
Netherlands  tell  how  Uncle  Sam  is  being  nourished  by  the  Hun 


68 


Propaganda 


cartoonists  at  a  rate  which  will  soon  make  him  visible  without 
the  aid  of  a  microscope. 

“Since  we  declared  war,  and  up  to  four  months  ago,  the  United 
States  Army  was  never  pictured  in  Europe,  and  much  amuse¬ 
ment  was  derived  by  caricaturing  President  Wilson’s  efforts  to 
send  a  handful  of  soldiers  to  parade  the  villages  of  France  to 
shout  college  yells.  Our  President  was  often  portrayed  as  tear¬ 
ing  his  hair  and  trying  to  get  American  labor  to  ‘hurry’  and 
complete  a  paper  boat  while  thousands  of  sturdy  troops  were 
waiting  to  embark.  The  building  of  our  paper  marine  was  being 
done  by  German  laborers  with  their  tongues  in  their  cheeks,  and 
when  they  condescended  to  drive  a  spike  they  did  it  through  the 
bottom  of  the  ship. 

“Four  months  ago  these  funny  pictures,  for  some  reason, 
ceased  being  amusing  and  the  sturdy  troops  waiting  at  the  docks 
were  transported  to  Europe  and  ridiculed  as  weaklings.  A  boche 
aviator  was  pictured  reporting  to  von  Hindenburg  that  he  had 
located  the  American  Army  asleep  under  a  baby  carriage.  One 
cartoon  entitled  ‘U.  S.  A.  Scare-crow  Army,’  showed  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  in  a  corral  surrounded  by  straw  soldiers  on  exhibition. 
Another  caricature,  now  out  of  vogue,  portrayed  an  emaciated 
Uncle  Sam  dressed  in  the  clothes  of  John  Bull,  which  were  made 
to  fit  by  padding  out  his  anatomy  with  New  York  newspaper 
boasts. 

“Today  in  order  to  tickle  the  German  sense  of  the  ridiculous, 
our  army  is  depicted  nearly  large  enough  to  warrant  a  hearty 
laugh  and  almost  strong  enough  to  annoy  one  Hun  division.  Not 
so  much  space,  however,  is  devoted  to  funny  pictures  in  the  daily 
papers,  and  one  must  turn  to  the  editorial  page  to  see  any  allu¬ 
sion  to  our  ‘despicable  army,’  as  it  is  never  dignified  by  men¬ 
tion  in  the  war  news  columns.  These  printed  banalities  do  their 
best  to  gradually  enlighten  the  people  to  the  fact  that  our  troops 
are  ‘over  there.’  The  Kreuz-Zeitung,  the  ultra  imperialistic  Berlin 
newspaper,  printed  an  editorial  three  weeks  ago  which  began:  ‘It 
must  be  expected  that  by  next  Spring  our  new  enemy  will  be  able 
to  muster  about  a  million  men  on  the  western  front,  but — ’  This 
‘but’  was  followed  by  soothing,  lullaby  words  to  put  the  German 
mind  in  a  comatose  state.  The  Germans  are  starting  a  systematic 
propaganda  to  prevent  the  people  from  ‘waking  up’  too  suddenly.” 

Sympathy  with  America  could  hardly  be  expected  from  the 
German  press,  but  it  is  striking  to  see  how  each  new  situation  is  met 
by  the  sleepless  propagandists. 

One  of  their  tasks  has  been  the  persuasion  of  the  public  to 
the  aims  of  the  Government.  In  the  Krupp  works  there  are 
placards  stating:  “We  feed  forty  million  Russians  and  they  rejoice 
to  be  under  Germany’s  wing.” 

Industrial  Germany  conducts  an  incessant  propaganda  in  favor 
of  the  retention  of  Belgium  and  Northern  France  and  every  shift 
of  policy  finds  its  reflection  in  a  drive  for  public  opinion.  Presi¬ 
dent  Wilson  stated  that  the  German  Government  does  not  represent 
the  German  people.  It  is  necessary  for  the  propagandists  to  induce 
the  people  to  represent  the  Government. 


Various  Forms  •  69 

\ 

The  suppression  of  newspapers  that  do  not  fall  into  line  is 
sharp  and  severe.  The  censorship  of  public  speech  and  of  books 
and  pamphlets  opposing  the  annexationist  policies  of  the  Junker 
element  is  stringent  and  brutal. 

THE  NEWS  AGENCIES. 

According  to  Carl  W .  Ackerman,  in  an  article  in  the  Saturday 
Evening  Post  of  April  6,  1918,  German  propaganda  is  already 
laying  its  plans  for  the  far  future: 

“A  great  newspaper  trust  is  being  formed  in  Germany  and 
Austria-Hungary  today  by  the  war  industries,  the  military  lead¬ 
ers  and  the  Fatherland  party.  Already  important  journals  have 
been  purchased  in  Berlin,  Hamburg,  Dresden,  Bremen,  Leipsic, 
Dantzic,  Essen,  Dusseldorf,  Frankfort,  Munich  and  Vienna.  In 
addition  the  Wolff  Bureau,  the  only  news-distributing  agency  in 
Germany,  and  the  Overseas  News  Service,  which  sends  wireless 
dispatches  from  Berlin  to  the  outside  world,  are  controlled  by 
this  triple  alliance  of  war  business,  war  makers  and  war  poli¬ 
ticians. 

“Fighting  this  organization,  which  seeks  to  monopolize  the 
news  channels  of  the  two  monarchies,  are  a  few  independent 
newspapers,  the  Social  Democrats  and  the  leaders  of  the  Liberal 
party.  Though  these  forces  are  waging  a  determined,  relentless 
and  severe  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the  press,  they  are  making  lit¬ 
tle  progress.  The  triple  alliance  has  mobilized  the  money, 
power  and  influence  of  the  nation,  and  it  seeks  today  to  manu¬ 
facture  and  export  German  public  opinion. 

“Germany  today  is  a  war  business  organization  more  than  it 
ever  was  before.  And  it  is  because  this  trust,  which  I  have  called 
the  triple  alliance,  sees  that  it  cannot  dominate  the  government 
without  controlling  the  press  that  it  is  campaigning  today  in  the 
German  newspapers.  It  is  because  this  trust  is  looking  ahead 
to  the  period  after  the  war  that  it  is  mobilizing  the  export  news 
channels  of  Germany  to  influence  the  world  when  peace  is  made. 
And  the  plans  which  the  Alliance  has  made  strike  at  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  the  American  and  Entente  press  freedom. 

“Germany’s  first  move  after  the  war,  according  to  the  plans 
which  ‘victorious’  Berlin  is  making,  is  to  be  directed  against 
the  news-distributing  agencies  of  England,  France  and  the 
United  States.  German  business  men,  army  officers  and  states¬ 
men  have  always  maintained  that  if  the  government  had  spent 
billions  of  marks  on  foreign  news  propaganda  years  before  the 
war  the  world  would  not  be  fighting  Germany  today.  Perhaps 
they  think  the  world  would  have  been  afraid  to  fight!  Whether 
their  opinion  is  sound  is  not  our  concern.  The  fact  is  that  the 
enemy  believes  this,  and  the  present  leaders  of  Germany  intend  to 
conquer  the  world  after  the  war  with  news  and  business. 

“We  may  ask  how  this  can  be  accomplished,  we  may  consider 
it  impossible;  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  money  has  been 
raised,  the  foundations  have  been  laid,  and  all  the  triple  alli¬ 
ance  is  awaiting  is  a  German  victory  to  end  the  war  so  the  press 
campaign  may  begin. 

“Recently  in  Berne  I  met  an  Austrian  journalist  who  had 
come  from  Vienna  for  a  brief  visit  in  Switzerland. 


70 


Propaganda 


“  ‘The  Krupp  interests  and  the  Pan-Germanists/  he  declared, 
‘own  or  control,  through  advertising  agencies,  every  German- 
language  newspaper  in  Vienna.’ 

“It  would  be  impossible,  of  course,  for  any  German  organiza¬ 
tion  to  go  to  the  United  States  or  any  other  large  country  after 
the  war  and  purchase  a  sufficient  number  of  newspapers  to  influ¬ 
ence  public  opinion,  and  the  triple  alliance  does  not  intend  to 
do  so.  It  has  a  better  method!  About  two  years  ago  the  news¬ 
paper  experts  of  the  German  Government  and  the  press  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  Krupp  and  the  big  shipping  companies  began  an 
investigation  to  find  out  the  best  means  of  influencing  public 
opinion  in  foreign  countries.  The  methods  which  made  German 
propaganda  famous  during  the  war  were  considered  bad.  The 
Western  world,  so  it  was  concluded,  was  too  busy  to  be  inter¬ 
ested  in  long  editorial  articles,  but  it  was  interested  at  all  times 
in  news  dispatches. 

“As  an  experiment  the  Overseas  News  Agency,  which  was 
then  supplying  the  American  newspapers  with  wireless  news 
from  Berlin,  was  bought  by  the  Krupp  interests,  and  once  or 
twice  each  day  news  from  Berlin  and  other  cities  of  Europe  was 
sent  to  Sayville,  Long  Island,  and  from  there  distributed  in  the 
United  States.  By  watching  the  American  newspapers  closely 
the  directors  of  this  new  propaganda  decided  that  American  news 
channels  could  be  influenced  by  news,  if  in  no  other  way. 

“Though  the  Overseas  News  Agency  was  succeeding,  before 
the  United  States  broke  diplomatic  relations,  in  getting  thou¬ 
sands  of  items  printed  in  the  American  press,  this  success  was 
not  considered  by  the  war  industries  so  great  as  it  could  be,  so 
they  made  other  plans.  And  these  are  the  ones  which  the  triple 
alliance  expects  to  execute  when  peace  is  made.” 

BREAKING  THE  NEWS  OE  THE  AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES. 

At  last  the  day  has  come  when  the  German  propagandist  has 
the  most  delicate  task  of  announcing  the -arrival  of  a  great  Ameri¬ 
can  army.  The  first  admissions  are  described  in  dispatches  to  the 
Times  of  June  13,  1918,  by  George  Eenwick.  The  military  critic, 
General  von  Liebert,  of  the  Tdgliche  Rundschau  of  Berlin,  sounds 
the  opening  note: 

“Germany  has  hitherto  only  threatened  us  by  means  of  mili¬ 
tary  statistics,  but  now  she  appears  herself  on  the  field  of  bat¬ 
tle.  She  has  come  out  of  the  stage  of  preparation  for  war  and 
entered  that  of  the  actual  fighting.  So  says  General  von  Lieb¬ 
ert,  military  critic  of  the  Tagliche  Rundschau  of  Berlin.  He 
terms  the  United  States  ‘Germany’s  new  enemy.’ 

“He  cannot  help  expressing  surprise  that  nothing  has  been 
heard  about  the  sinking  of  American  transports  by  U-boats,  and 
hopes  that  Germany’s  latest  undersea  cruisers  are  after  that 
prey. 

“The  Tdgliche  Rundschau  editorially  informs  its  readers  that 
the  war  has  entered  the  American  stage,  the  last  and  greatest  of 
all,  and  that  the  German  authorities  know  full  well  that  this 
final  part  of  the  struggle  is  not  far  off. 

“Such  statements  are  in  keeping  with  the  information  I  have 
from  a  reliable  source  to  the  effect  that  the  instructions  have 


Various  Forms 


71 


been  sent  around  to  the  German  press,  informing  the  news¬ 
papers  that  it  will  be  advisable  gradually  to  prepare  the  coun¬ 
try  for  the  news  of  the  active  participation  of  American  forces 
in  strength  on  the  west  front. 

“Such  orders  are  being  carried  out  in  typical  German  style 
and  just  as  the  authorities  doubtless  desire.  Numerous  corre¬ 
spondents  have  been  permitted  to  report  that  there  are  500,000 
Americans  on  this  side  of  the  water.  Having  said  so,  they  pro¬ 
ceed  to  calm  the  Fatherland’s  nerves  with  the  assurance  that  of 
course  half  that  number  are  employed  on  the  lines  of  communi¬ 
cation  while  the  other  half  are  worth  nothing. 

“So  far  the  official  and  semi-official  statements  have  nothing 
but  American  defeats  to  report,  but  the  fact  that  the  American 
forces  are  making  themselves  felt  is  one  that  can  no  longer  be 
hidden  from  the  German  people,  and  these  quotations  are  given 
to  show  that  the  authorities  think  it  well  that  the  period  of 
wild,  unbridled  sneering  and  despising  of  Americans  as  actual 
factors  on  the  western  front  had  better  be  brought  gradually 
to  a  close.” 

PROPAGANDA  BY  ADVERTISING  MONOPOLIES. 

In  the  effort  to  control  the  press  of  the  world,  the  Germans 
discovered  that  a  tremendous  leverage  could  be  exerted  by  securing 
control  of  the  advertising  business  through  the  agencies. 

To  purchase  a  great  number  of  newspapers  would  be  a  ruinous 
expense.  But  a  monopoly  of  advertising  would  effect  the  same  result 
at  a  profit  instead  of  a  loss.  In  an  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly , 
June,  1918,  one  “Lysis”  gives  the  complete  story  of  this  far-sighted 
move. 

It  began  with  the  firm  of  Haasenstein  and  Yogler,  formed  in 
1882  and  cooperating  with  a  Swiss  named  Georg.  The  offices  were 
at  Geneva.  In  1902  branches  were  established  in  Italian  cities 
with  Germans  as  managers.  Secret  contracts  were  secured  with 
eighty-one  Italian  papers,  giving  the  agency  the  right  to  veto  “all 
advertisements  which  it  may  deem  injurious  or  inopportune.”  They 
practically  monopolized  the  advertising  business  and  thereby  exerted 
great  influence  over  editorial  policies  and  compelled  the  publica¬ 
tion  of  doctored  dispatches  and  propaganda. 

When  Italy  joined  the  Allies  the  agency  and  its  local  managers 
took  an  Italian  name  and  passed  for  a  Swiss  concern.  Many 
Italian  papers  broke  with  the  concern,  but  the  advertising  monopoly 
still  gave  it  great  power. 

In  France  the  same  company  under  the  same  Swiss  disguise 
established  itself  and  according  to  “Lysis,”  proceeded  “to  make 
itself  by  slow  degrees  master  of  the  French  press.”  Georg  added 
a  large  bill-posting  business,  with  branches  in  many  towns,  and 


72 


Propaganda 


used  this  as  a  club,  threatening  to  resort  to  bill  board  advertising 
and  dispense  with  the  newspapers. 

'  The  firm  extended  its  ambitions  to  America  in  1914  and 
secured  many  American  advertising  clients.  The  business  was 
sequestered  eventually  in  France;  but  it  is  believed  that  it  will 
increase  again.  Plans  for  combating  the  world-wide  hostility  to 
German  wares  after  the  war  are  already  being  laid. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


GERMAN  PROPAGANDA  IN  AMERICA. 

The  German  invasion  of  America  began  long  ago.  Vast  num¬ 
bers  of  Germans  have  come  to  this  country  to  breathe  the  air  of 
liberty  and  they  have  made  their  home  their  new  Fatherland.  Their 
Americanism  is  all  the  stronger  for  their  knowledge  of  old  world 
conditions.  Their  sons  are  among  the  best  of  our  soldiers. 

But  others  came  from  Germany  for  commercial  reasons  alone. 
They  looked  upon  the  United  States  as  a  future  colony  of  Germany. 
They  lost  no  opportunity  to  spread  the  language  of  Germany,  to 
preach  the  superiority  of  her  institutions  and  the  inferiority  of 
ours. 

They  drew  into  their  net  many  who  were  simply  held  to  Ger¬ 
many  by  affection  for  their  native  land.  They  used  these  unsus¬ 
pecting  persons  as  instruments. 

Numberless  musical,  athletic,  financial  and  other  Yereins  and 
Bunds  conceived  in  the  most  innocent  of  spirits  have  been  regarded 
as  opportunities  to  delay  the  absorption  of  the  Germans  into 
American  life. 

The  motives  of  the  bulk  of  the  membership  were  hone°t  and 
their  aim  merely  to  keep  tender  memories  aglow.  But  the  honest 
Germans  were  in  many  cases  the  unsuspecting  dupes  of  manipu¬ 
lators. 

THE  DELBRUCK  LAW. 

Thanks  to  the  amazing  Delbriick  Law,  passed  in  1913,  it  was 
made  legal  for  a  German  to  have  two  countries.  He  was  permitted 
to  accept  citizenship  in  sixteen  other  countries  if  it  were  to  his 
advantage,  without  sacrificing  his  allegiance  to  Germany. 

The  willingness  of  a  nation  to  give  official  sanction  to  such  a 
scheme  for  perjury  with  a  mental  reservation  is  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  evidences  of  the  German  stop-at-nothing  policy.  The  law 
was  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  Pan-German  League  and  the 
League  for  Germanism  in  Foreign  Lands.  It  provided  that 
“citizenship  is  not  lost  by  one  who,  acquiring  foreign  citizenship, 
has  secured  on  application  the  written  consent  of  the  proper  author¬ 
ities  of  his  home  state  to  retain  his  citizenship.”  Doctor  Delbriick 
himself  thus  explained  the  law  that  year  in  a  speech  to  the  Reichs¬ 
tag: 


(4) 


73 


74 


Propaganda 


“The  Empire  of  Germany  has  also  quite  another  interest  now 
in  attaching  to  itself  all  Germans  who  have  emigrated,  for  the 
motives  of  emigration  have  in  great  part  become  quite  different 
from  what  they  were  formerly.  The  German  who  emigrates 
now  no  longer  does  so  with  a  view  of  separating  himself  eco¬ 
nomically  and  politically  from  his  country;  on  the  contrary,  the 
large  majority  of  those  who  emigrate  go  with  the  object  of 
serving  their  country  economically  and  politically.  *  *  *  It 

is  true  that  we  recognize  that  there  are  cases  where  the  German 
citizen  abroad  may  have  an  interest  in  acquiring  side  by  side 
with  his  old  nationality  a  new  nationality,  the  possession  of 
which  would  still  allow  his  usefully  representing  the  interests  of 
his  Fatherland.” 

Of  this  law  David  Lawrence  says  in  an  article  in  the  Saturday 
Evening  Post  for  Jnne  15,  1918: 

“It  meant  that  the  Germans  who  went  to  America  could  be¬ 
come  naturalized  if  it  helped  them  in  their  business  and  to  finan¬ 
cial  prosperity,  but  at  the  same  time  they  would  not  forfeit  their 
German  citizenship. 

“This  was  not  peculiar  to  America.  There  are  and  have  been 
similar  alliances  in  many  countries  of  the  world,  all  engaged  in 
the  same  work.  They  are  working  in  Denmark,  Holland,  Bel¬ 
gium,  Northern  France,  Switzerland,  Bohemia,  Moravia,  the  Bal¬ 
tic  provinces,  Russian  Poland,  the  Russian  provinces  along  the 
Black  Sea  and  elsewhere  in  Europe,  and  in  the  South  Amer¬ 
ican  countries,  such  as  Chile,  Argentina  and  Brazil. 

“Though  figures  are  not  available  for  recent  years,  there  were 
up  to  1902  no  less  than  5,240  schools  spread  throughout  the 
world  where  only  German  was  spoken.  Brazil  had  six  hundred 
of  them  in  the  southern  provinces,  where  the  Germans  hoped 
some  day  to  separate  and  establish  a  real  German  colony — some¬ 
thing  that  came  as  near  being  a  violation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
as  anything  the  Prussians  attempted  before  1914. 

“About  five  hundred  of  these  schools  existed  in  the  United 
States  in  1902,  and  they  have  been  increased  since.  They  didn’t 
receive  any  financial  backing  from  the  German  Government,  but 
were  supported  by  religious  bodies  of  German  origin.  They 
became  in  many  cases  outspoken  in  spreading  German  propa¬ 
ganda,  and  some  have  not  even  ceased  since  the  United  States 
entered  the  war.  This  is  entirely  aside  from  the  many  public 
schools  where  the  population  is  almost  entirely  German.  In  the 
State  schools  in  Nebraska  and  Wisconsin,  for  instance,  maintained 
by  taxation,  there  are  German  teachers  of  German  descent  and 
of  strongly  developed  German  affiliations.  In  one  of  the  States 
the  law  requires  that  during  nine  months  of  the  year  school 
shall  be  held  four  months  in  English  and  five  months  in  German.” 


THE  GERMAN  SPY  SYSTEM. 

An  officer  of  the  Military  Intelligence  has  summarized  the 
activities  of  German  agents  as  follows: 

The  German  Foreign  Office  is  in  charge  of  propaganda  and  the 
attack  along  ethnographic,  religious  and  political  lines.  Its  agents 


In  America 


75 


are  chosen  for  their  social  and  intellectual  qualifications,  and  ap¬ 
pear  to  consider  themselves  greatly  superior  to  the  agents  of  other 
systems. 

The  German  Admiralty  Intelligence  is  in  charge  of  sabotage, 
destruction  of  shipping  and  information  as  to  naval  matters. 

Bov-Ed,  Naval  Attache  at  Washington,  appears  to  have  started 
work  along  these  lines  in  this  country,  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
given  satisfaction. 

Rintelen,  Captain  Naval  Reserve,  attached  to  the  Admiralty 
staff,  claims  to  have  superseded  Boy-Ed  and  even  to  have  acted 
independently  of  Bernstorff.  Rintelen’s  activities  consisted  princi¬ 
pally  in  the  destruction  of  shipping  by  fire-bombs,  the  fomenting 
of  strikes  and  the  movement  for  an  embargo  against  the  export  of 
munitions. 

Wunnenberg  was  employed  by  Wilhelm,  said  to  be  the  head  of 
the  Admiralty  Intelligence,  and  was  trained  in  the  methods  for 
the  destruction  of  shipping  of  the  naval  base  in  Wilhelmshaven. 
Rutherford,  Bacon  and  Hastings  sent  by  him  to  England  as  spies, 
were  furnished  with  questionnaires  about  naval  matters. 

The  German  Army  Intelligence  appears  to  have  been  in  charge 
of  military  operations  in  the  United  States,  of  slowing  up  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  munitions  by  commercial  operations,  and  of  smuggling 
contraband  into  Germany  or  into  neutral  countries  for  eventual 
use  in  Germany. 

Personnel.  It  is  not  believed  that  the  Stieber  system  of  planting 
spies  was  extensively  carried  out  in  this  country.  In  the  first  place, 
Germany  did  not,  in  the  years  preceding  1914,  expect  that  the  war 
would  last  so  long  or  that  the  United  States  would  be  actively 
involved.  In  the  second  place,  Germany  had  reason  to  believe  that 
the  German-American  population  would  remain  loyal  to  the  Father- 
land  and  would  therefore  furnish  an  unlimited  supply  of  recruits, 
admirably  adapted  to  the  purpose. 

Financing.  Albert,  head  of  the  German  High  Commission, 
commercial  attache  of  the  German  Embassy,  who  came  in  Sep¬ 
tember  and  left  in  February,  1917,  had  charge  of  the  financing 
of  all  the  German  agents  in  this  country,  with  the  exception  of 
Rintelen.  All  expenditures  of  $10,000  or  over  were  submitted  to 
him  for  approval.  Funds  were  derived  from  the  sales  of  German 
bonds,  Red  Cross  subscriptions,  etc.,  or  by  wireless  transfers  from 
Germany.  In  certain  cases,  particularly  in  criminal  transactions 
directed  by  the  Admiralty,  funds  were  not  provided  bv  Albert,  but 


76  Propaganda 

were  transferred  direct  from  Germany  under  cover  of  commercial 
transactions. 

Since  February,  1917,  funds  have  been  furnished  from  Germany 
through  banking  and  commercial  houses.  It  is  also  believed  that 
considerable  funds  were  left  in  this  country  in  dormant  accounts 
for  future  use. 

A  strict  accounting,  characterized  by  German  thoroughness,  has 
been  required  of  all  agents.  A  part  of  these  accounts  are  still  in 
possession  of  the  Swiss  diplomatic  officers,  who  took  over  German 
interests  in  February,  1917.  Others  probably  have  been  left  for 
safekeeping  with  sympathizers. 

THE  PROPAGANDA  MACHINE. 

A  general  review  of  the  German  campaign  against  America  has 
been  given  out  just  as  this  book  goes  to  press.  It  is  quoted  at  length 
from  the  July  15,  1918,  issue  of  the  New  York  Times : 

“The  whole  German  propaganda  which  was  put  in  operation 
before  the  European  war  was  a  month  old,  and  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  debauch  public  opinion  in  the  United  States  in 
favor  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  is  on  the  eve  of  being 
exposed.  The  Government  is  now  in  possession  of  the  names  of 
practically  the  entire  personnel  employed  by  the  Germans. 

“These  men  are  now  being  sought  by  Federal  agents,  and  as 
fast  as  located  are  taken  to  the  office  of  Attorney  General  Merton 
E.  Lewis  at  51  Chambers  Street  for  examination.  Included 
among  those  who  were  identified  with  the  propaganda  are  sev¬ 
eral  Americans,  some  of  them  writers  of  more  than  local  fame. 

“  ‘And  I  may  add,’  said  Deputy  Attorney  General  Alfred  L. 
Becker  yesterday,  ‘that  among  the  Americans  who  had  a  part  in 
this  German  hatched  plot  to  influence  public  opinion  in  this 
country  were  two  or  three  who  have  been  violently  patriotic  of 
late.’ 

“The  headquarters  of  the  propaganda  machine  were  at  1153 
Broadway,  in  the  offices  of  the  German  Red  Cross  Commission 
to  the  United  States,  of  which  Dr.  Bernard  Dernburg,  Captain 
Ewald  Hecker  and  Dr.  Karl  Fuehr  were  members.  Until  Dr. 
Dernburg  was  ordered  to  leave  the  country  he  was  the  head  of 
the  propaganda  machine.  When  he  left  Dr.  Albert  took  the  helm, 
and  when  Dr.  Albert  received  his  walking  papers,  the  late  Hugo 
Schweitzer,  who  was  named  in  the  treason  indictments  recently 
handed  down  by  the  Federal  Grand  Jury,  took  charge. 

“There  was,  Mr.  Becker  explained  yesterday,  a  regular  Board 
of  Directors,  the  representatives  of  the  Kaiser  on  the  board  being 
Captain  Karl  Boy-Ed,  Captain  Franz  von  Papen,  Dr.  Dernburg, 
Dr.  Fuehr,  Captain  Hecker,  and  Dr.  Albert,  with  Count  von  Bern- 
storff  exercising  supreme  authority  as  chairman  ex  officio.  For 
reasons  which  are  obvious,  Mr.  Becker  said,  it  was  not  advisable 
at  this  time  to  make  public  the  names  of  the  Americans  who  were 
concerned  in  the  activities  of  the  alien  propagandists. 

“  ‘At  the  proper  time,’  added  Mr.  Becker,  ‘those  names  will  be 
given  to  the  public.’ 


In  America 


77 


“It  was  stated  at  the  office  of  the  Attorney  General  that  Dr. 
Edward  A.  Rumely,  arrested  a  week  ago  as  a  result  of  his  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  then  German  owned  Evening  Mail,  was  an  almost 
daily  visitor  to  the  headquarters  at  1153  Broadway.  Two  New 
York  lawyers,  who  were  close  to  von  Bernstorff  and  who  acted 
as  his  legal  advisers  in  matters  of  first  importance,  also  conferred 
with  the  Board  on  numerous  occasions.  These  lawyers  had  a 
prominent  part  in  the  negotiations  which  led  to  the  acquisition 
of  the  Mail  by  the  Kaiser. 

“The  German  Red  Cross  Commission,  which  came  over  as 
official  camouflage  for  the  Kaiser’s  propaganda  machine,  arrived 
in  this  country  about  four  weeks  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
Dernburg  came  as  head  of  the  commission,  and  in  one  of  his  first 
interviews,  printed  in  the  Times  of  September  6,  1914,  he  said: 

“  ‘I  have  come  here  to  make  arrangements  for  co-operation 
between  the  Red  Cross  Society  of  Germany  and  that  of  the  United 
States.  Of  course,  the  Germans  will  do  what  they  can  to  facilitate 
the  work  of  all  whose  humanitarian  impulses  lead  them  to  assist 
us  in  this  hour  of  national  stress.’ 

“Within  a  few  days  after  he  landed  the  German  Red  Cross 
office  was  opened  at  1153  Broadway,  on  the  floor  above  the  edi¬ 
torial  rooms  of  the  pro-German  weekly  known  as  The  Fatherland, 
and  the  editor  of  which  was  George  Sylvester  Viereck.  Mr.  Vier- 
eck,  it  was  said  at  the  office  of  the  Attorney  General,  visited  the 
Red  Cross  offices  of  Dernburg,  Fuehr  and  Hecker  on  many  occa¬ 
sions. 

“The  fact  that  the  German  Government,  as  one  of  its  first 
acts  after  the  war  started,  took  advantage  of  the  Red  Cross  as  a 
cloak  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
was  definitely  established  by  the  Attorney  General  about  four 
weeks  ago.  Certain  documents  and  other  data  which  came  into 
the  possession  of  Attorney  General  Lewis,  with  subsequent  im¬ 
portant  admissions  by  persons  who  have  been  examined  in  the 
course  of  the  investigation,  proved  beyond  doubt  that  so  far  as 
Germany  was  concerned  the  German  Red  Cross  is  and  has  been 
since  she  went  to  war  a  part  of  the  imperial  war  machine,  and 
used  as  a  camouflage  to  cloak  propagandist  and  spy  activities  in 
enemy  and  neutral  countries.  So  far  as  concern  the  activities  of 
certain  Americans  in  the  propaganda  campaign  which  was  waged 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  up  to  several  months  subse¬ 
quent  to  this  country’s  entrance  into  it,  the  following  statement 
was  made  at  the  office  of  Attorney  General  Lewis  last  night: 

“  ‘The  Government  (the  Attorney  General  is  acting  for  the 
Federal  Government)  is  continuing  the  examination  of  witnesses. 
We  have  examined  a  large  number  in  the  last  few  days.  Our 
purpose  is  to  get  everybody  who  is  now  in  the  United  States  who 
was  concerned  in  the  operation  of  the  German  propaganda  in  this 
country.  We  expect  to  identify  and  expose  those  still  in  the 
United  States  and  to  name  those  who  are  out  of  our  jurisdiction, 
that  is,  who  are  now  domiciled  in  enemy  or  neutral  countries.’ 

“That  the  case  of  the  Evening  Mail  and  its  purchase  by  the 
German  Government  is  only  one  feature  of  the  investigation  was 
emphasized  by  Deputy  Attorney  General  Becker. 

“  ‘The  ramifications  in  this  case,’  said  Mr.  Becker,  ‘do  not  ex¬ 
tend  to  Rumely  alone.  Rumely  is  only  a  cog  in  a  very  big  ma¬ 
chine.  I  may  add  that  there  are  some  witnesses  whose  testimony 
is  desired  by  the  authorities  who  are  keeping  under  cover.  It 
would  be  the  part  of  wisdom  on  the  part  of  these  persons  to 
come  forward  at  once.  By  so  doing  they  may  save  themselves  a 
lot  of  trouble  later  on.’ 


I 


78 


Propaganda 


“When  Dernburg  was  not  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  Prop¬ 
aganda  Board,  at  1153  Broadway,  Mr.  Becker  said,  Boy-Ed  or  von 
Papen  and  sometimes  Dr.  Albert  directed  the  work.  Every  phase 
of  the  situation  in  the  United  States  was  discussed  at  these  meet¬ 
ings  and  plans  mapped  out  to  combat  the  pro-Ally  sentiment 
which  was  sweeping  the  country.  Persons,  in  numerous  in¬ 
stances  whose  services  could  be  had  for  a  price  and  whose  pro- 
Germanism  was  sufficiently  pronounced  to  make  them  worthy  of 
trust  by  the  Germans,  were  invited  to  meet  the  members  of  the 
board  and  contracts  entered  into  with  them.  Dr.  Fuehr,  who 
has  been  the  head  of  the  German  Secret  Service  iti  Japan,  handled 
the  financial  end  of  the  negotiations  and,  Mr.  Becker  said,  issued 
pay  checks  which  were  cashed  at  the  office  of  the  Hamburg-Amer- 
ican  Line. 

“  ‘Were  the  checks  for  large  or  small  amounts?’  Mr.  Becker 
was  asked. 

“  ‘I  can  assure  you,’  he  replied,  ‘that  Fuehr  was  no  piker.’ 

“A  part  of  the  elaborate  scheme  which  was  worked  out  by  the 
Dernburg  ‘Red  Cross’  machine  was  the  establishment  of  a  direct 
news  service,  controlled  by  the  German  Government,  between 
Berlin  and  New  York.  This  was  to  be  made  possible  by  using 
the  service  of  the  Transoceanic  News  Service,  a  German  propa¬ 
ganda  organization,  with  branches  in  every  country  in  the  world 
at  the  present  time,  except  those  at  war  with  the  Central  Powers. 
The  news  was  sold  at  a  nominal  cost  when  possible,  but  if  neces¬ 
sary  was  to  be  supplied  to  all  papers  willing  to  print  it  free  of 
charge. 

“While  all  this  plotting  was  going  on  Dernburg  was  still 
representing  himself  in  America  as  the  representative  of  the 
German  Red  Cross,  despite  the  fact  that  he  was  daily  giving  out 
interviews  in  an  effort  to  switch  the  public  opinion  of  the  country 
to  the  Kaiser.  For  several  months  Dernburg  continued  to  make 
his  headquarters  at  1153  Broadway,  and  did  not  change  them 
until  some  of  the  newspapers  began  to  print  stories  to  the  ef¬ 
fect  that  his  ‘Red  Cross’  activities  were  only  camouflage  for 
unneutral  work  in  this  country. 

“Dernburg  then  changed  his  headquarters  to  the  Ritz-Carlton 
Hotel  and  continued  it  there  until  his  departure  from  the  coun¬ 
try  in  June,  1915.  He  continued,  however,  to  attend  the  meetings 
of  the  board  at  1153  Broadway,  where  after  his  departure  Hecker 
was  nominally  in  charge  as  ‘Red  Cross  Commissioner.’ 

“Dernburg,  who  was  ordered  to  leave  the  country  following 
his  efforts  to  justify  the  murder  of  the  passengers  on  the  Lusi¬ 
tania,  is  said  to  have  received  as  head  of  the  ‘Red  Cross  Commis¬ 
sion’  more  than  $1,985,000  from  Germans  and  German  sympa¬ 
thizers  in  the  United  States.  Whether  or  not  all  of  this  money 
reached  Germany  or  whether  a  considerable  part  of  it  was  used 
in  propaganda  and  plot!  work  in  the  United  States  is  a  feature  of 
the  case  that  Attorney  General  Lewis  expects  to  solve.  Three 
days  after  Dernburg  left,  and  after  Albert  had  succeeded  to  the 
Chairmanship  of  the  Propaganda  Board,  Captain  Hecker  an¬ 
nounced  that  he  had  succeeded  Dernburg  as  ‘Red  Cross  Commis¬ 
sioner’  and  issued  an  appeal  for  more  ‘Red  Cross’  funds. 

“  ‘In  this  hour,’  he  said,  ‘we  need  our  friends  more  than  ever 
and  depend  upon  their  further  aid  to  carry  on  our  charitable 
work.’ 

“Hecker,  however,  did  not  succeed  to  Dernburg’s  high  position 
on  the  Propaganda  Board.  That  mantle  fell  on  the  shoulders  of 
Dr.  Heinrich  Albert,  the  chief  paymaster  of  the  whole  German 
war  machine  in  this  country.  Albert  held  the  job  until  he  was 


In  America 


79 


ordered  out  of  the  country  in  March,  1917,  and  after  that  time 
and  until  his  death  Schweitzer  was  the  nominal  head  of  the 
board.” 

THE  GERMAN-AMERICAN  ALLIANCE. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  organizations  for  propaganda  in  Amer¬ 
ica  has  been  the  Deutsch-Amerikanisclier  Bund,  generally  known  as 
the  German- American  Alliance.  It  reached  a  membership  of  two 
million  members.  It  began  with  the  local  grouping  of  German 
singing,  athletic  and  other  societies.  These  were  amalgamated 
into  State  alliances  and  these  into  a  national  body  in  1901. 

After  many  annual  conventions  a  national  charter  was  secured 
from  Congress  in  1907.  That  charter  was  dissolved  in  1918  after 
a  startling  exposure  of  the  aims  and  achievements  of  the  Alliance. 

As  at  home,  the  German  theory  of  autocracy  is  instilled  into  the 
infant  mind,  so  this  American  representative  made  a  determined 
effort  to  secure  control  over  the  schools  of  America;  to  introduce 
the  study  of  the  German  language  and,  of  course,  incidentally  of 
German  propaganda  in  all  schools,  and  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
German  language  in  as  many  as  possible.  This  last  end  had  been 
attained  in  500  parochial  schools.  In  some  of  the  States  public 
moneys  were  used  for  the  support  of  schools  in  which  German 
was  taught  altogether,  for  portions  of  the  year. 

To  resist  assimilation  into  the  American  ideal  was  the  deter¬ 
mination.  The  President,  Charles  J.  Hexamer,  at  a  convention, 
dared  to  say  in  an  address : 

“We  have  long  suffered  the  preachment  that  ‘you  Germans  must 
allow  yourselves  to  be  assimilated.  You  must  merge  with  the 
American  peopled  But  no  one  will  ever  find  us  prepared  to  descend 
to  an  inferior  Kultur.” 

Again  as  late  as  November,  1915,  he  said:  “We  will  not  permit 
our  Kultur  of  two  thousand  years  to  be  trodden  down  in' this  land. 
*  *  *  We  are  giving  this  people  here  the  best  thing  there  is 

on  earth,  Germanic  Kultur.” 

State  legislatures  were  packed  and  politicians  overawed  into 
giving  the  avowedly  insoluble  element  powers  that  seem  incredible 
now.  There  was  hardly  a  town  in  America  where  this  Alliance 
was  not  at  work.  It  had  ten  thousand  local  societies  taking  constant 
care  to  holding  the  young  of  German  heritage  “in  the  bonds  of 
Germanism,”  as  the  Alldeutsche  Blatter  phrases  it,  and  filling  young 
American  minds  with  reverence  for  German  Kultur,  even  to  the 
extent  of  forcing  Teutonic  schoolbooks  on  them. 


80 


Propaganda 


A  year  later  a  writer  for  the  same  Gazette  proclaimed  that  "It 
is  the  duty  of  everyone  who  loves  languages  to  see  that  the  future 
language  spoken  in  America  shall  be  German.  Germans  need  only 
grasp  the  situation  and  the  future  is  theirs.”  / 

The  German-American  Alliance  published  a  regular  magazine, 
Mitteilungen  des  D-A.  B.,  also  yearbooks  that  make  astonishing 
reading  now,  though  the  whole  conduct  of  the  Imperial  Government 
confirms  the  plan  of  universal  domination  by  any  means.  The 
yearbooks  recorded  incessant  attacks  on  legislatures  and  school 
boards  and  boasted  of  political  power  ruthlessly  wielded. 

The  supreme  impudence  was  the  raising  of  funds  “to  combat 
nativistic  efforts.”  For  immigrants  to  coin  such  a  word  as  “nativ- 
istic”  for  the  desire  of  their  new  country  to  maintain  its  institu¬ 
tions  is  the  sublimity  of  disloyalty. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  Hexamer,  the  President,  was  decorated 
by  the  Kaiser  in  1904  with  the  Fourth  Order  of  the  Red  Eagle. 

The  Russian  revolutionists  who  published  the  secret  documents 
they  found,  included  among  their  exposures  this  circular  telegram 
from  the  German  Government: 

“It  is  brought  to  your  knowledge  that  in  the  countries  where 
you  are  accredited  there  have  been  founded  special  bureaus  for 
organizing  propaganda  in  countries  of  the  coalition  at  war  with  " 
Germany.  The  propaganda  will  have  for  its  aim  the  inception 
of  social  movements  accompanied  by  strikes,  revolutionary  ex¬ 
plosions,  separatist  movements  and  civil  war,  as  well  as  an  agi¬ 
tation  in  favor  of  disarmament  and  the  cessation  of  this  bloody 
war.” 

The  ten  thousand  branches  of  the  German-American  Alliance 
were  so  many  centers  of  propaganda  and  they  sprang  into  activity 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  President  Hexamer  a  month  later 
was  ready  with  this  pronouncement  in  the  official  organ: 

“In  every  city  there  should  be  a  bureau  of  literature  with  an 
efficient  press  agent  established,  a  press  agent  who  should  react 
immediately  in  the  English  language  upon  all  hostile  attacks  and 
statements  of  ignorance  of  irresponsible  reporters  of  English 
newspapers. 

“Furthermore  in  every  branch  of  this  organization  collec¬ 
tions  should  be  inaugurated  whose  proceeds  should  be  kept  for 
the  use  of  the  national  executive  of  the  National  German-Amer¬ 
ican  Alliance  right  up  to  the  time  when  the  national  executive 
in  accordance  with  the  purpose  of  these  collections  may  apply 
them  for  our  relations  in  Germany  or  at  any  other  place  where 
a  crying  need  is  directed  to  us.” 

To  quote  again  from  David  Lawrence’s  article: 


In  America 


81 


“This  was  followed  by  a  summons  ‘to  all  German  instructors, 
all  who  have  studied  in  German  universities  and  to  every  German 
who  is  literarily  inclined’  to  handle  the  American  press,  which 
meant  a  counter  propaganda  designed  to  make  Americans  dis¬ 
believe  German  aggression  in  Belgium  and  the  horrors  that  Ger¬ 
man  Kultur  had  imposed  on  peaceful  neighbors  and  the  civ¬ 
ilized  world. 

“Newspapers  in  Germany  were  prompt  to  praise  the  American 
citizens  of  German  descent  for  performing  such  good  ‘military 
service’  to  Germany. 

“That  military  service,  to  be  sure,  was  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  embarrassing  the  United  States  Government  by  seeking  to 
make  it  adopt  pro-German  policies.  There  were  organized  in  this 
country,  moreover,  several  societies  that  did  not  have  the  official 
sanction  of  the  German-American  Alliance  or  any  direct  connec¬ 
tion,  but  whose  officers  and  members  were  identical  in  many  cases 
with  the  executive  committees  of  state  and  city  alliances;  and  all 
worked  to  influence  the  United  States  to  be  unneutral  and  pro- 
German. 

“The  embargo  conferenc6  at  Chicago  in  1915  is  a  case  in 
point.  It  pretended  to  be  an  organization  of  Americans,  but  its 
funds  were  discovered  by  the  Department  of  Justice  to  have 
come  from  German  sources.  Of  similar  character  were  the 
Friends  of  Peace,  the  American  Neutrality  League,  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Independence  Union,  the  American  Truth  Society  and 
Labor’s  National  Peace  Council.  It  has  been  proved  that  Franz 
von  Rintelen,  the  bomb  plotter,  now  in  the  Federal  peniten¬ 
tiary,  furnished  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  to  some  of 
these  organizations.  The  National  German-American  Alliance  did 
not  act  as  a  whole  or  officially  toward  these  organizations,  but 
individuals  did  who  received  their  inspiration  from  the  alliance. 
And  so  the  work  of  Germanizing  America  went  on  before  we 
entered  the  war — and  many  years  before  the  European  War  itself 
came. 

“By  spreading  propaganda  through  the  schools  and  German 
societies  in  states,  cities  and  towns  the  tragedy  of  Belgium  was 
made  to  appear  as  a  fabrication,  the  sinkings  without  warning  of 
passenger  vessels  were  justified,  and  incessant  efforts  were  made 
to  get  America  to  cripple  the  Allies  by  cutting  off  the  flow  of 
munitions.  Through  the  German  language  press  and  the  Ger¬ 
man  colonies,  where  German  teachers  taught  the  American 
children  of  German  parents,  a  spirit  in  favor  of  the  Fatherland 
was  preserved  that  transcended  any  enthusiasm  that  has  since 
been  shown  for  the  United  States  on  entering  the  war. 

“And  the  National  German-American  Alliance  had  a  Federal 
charter  granted  it  by  Congress  in  1907!  When  Senator  King, 
of  Utah,  started  the  agitation  to  have  the  charter  revoked  the 
alliance  voluntarily  dissolved  and  thought  it  would  forestall 
action,  but  the  Senators  construed  the  move  as  merely  an  effort  to 
maintain  the  organization  after  the  war.  So  the  Senate  Judiciary 
Committee  unanimously  recommended  revoking  the  charter. 

“But  the  discussion  incident  to  the  German-American  Alli¬ 
ance’s  activities  produced  two  very  live  questions:  Shall  the 
teaching  of  German  be  abolished  in  American  schools?  Shall 
the  German-language  press  be  prohibited  from  circulation?” 

It  should  be  emphasized  that  the  guilt  of  the  officials  and 
leaders  of  the  Alliance  was  not  shared  by  all  the  members.  Great 


82 


Propaganda 


numbers  of  them  never  dreamed  that  they  were  being  used.  They 
were  not  aware  that  the  Alliance  was  a  branch  of  the  Pan-German 
League.  As  soon  as  they  understood  this,  they  were  sincere  in  their 
eagerness  to  escape  from  the  association  and  to  dissolve  it.  In  many 
cases  the  funds  in  the  treasury  were  turned  over  to  the  Red  Cross. 
The  national  officials  took  legal  steps  to  dissolve  the  Alliance,  but 
this  was  not  accepted  as  legal,  and  on  July  2,  1918,  the  King 
resolution  repealing  the  charter  was  passed  by  the  Senate  unani¬ 
mously. 

All  the  while,  however,  the  propaganda  went  on  to  carry 
out  the  Pan-German  ideal  of  a  solid  block  of  German  elements  in 
every  country,  and  a  truceless  war  against  other  races.  In  the 
Mitteilungen  of  the  Alliance,  Vol.  7,  No.  9,  p.  4,  appeared  this 
fierce  doctrine : 

“The  National  Alliance  leads  the  battle  against  Anglo-Saxon- 
ism,  against  the  fanatical  slaves  of  political  and  personal  liberty. 
It  battles  against  narrow-hearted  dark  know-nothingism,  against 
the  British  influence,  against  the  zealotism  which  sprang  from 
England  and  against  the  slavery  of  Puritanism. 

“Only  in  vigorous  unity  does  the  welfare  of  American  Ger¬ 
manism  rest.  Every  division  of  our  powers  is  a  betrayal  of  the 
cause  of  German  Kultur.” 

The  political  solidarity  of  the  Alliance  is  shown  in  the  Bulletin 
for  April,  1916,  page  17,  where  an  ex-Congressman  thus  addresses 
the  readers : 

“Just  as  Europe  has  fallen  upon  Germany,  so  America  is 
now  falling  upon  German-Americans,  or  attacking  them;  but 
we  have  a  weapon  which  we  can  use  to  good  effect — namely, 
our  ballots,  and  in  these  days,  so  dark  for  Germanism,  we  must 
use  our  ballots  for  our  Germanism.” 

In  his  testimony  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  the  Judiciary, 
in  1918,  Gustavus  Ohlinger,  president  of  the  Toledo  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  stated  that  the  activity  of  the  Alliance  was  “in  fact-  and 
purpose  part  of  the  military  plan  of  Germany  as  directed  against 
the  United  States.” 

“I  say,  advisedly,  German  military  preparation  against  the 
United  States  began  twenty  years  ago,  and  the  same  process  was 
followed  with  the  United  States  as  was  followed  in  so  many  other 
countries;  that  is  the  policy  of  infiltration,  of  propaganda  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  the  national  spirit  of  a  country.  That  is 
the  plan  of  the  German  general  staff,  and  that  is  the  thing,  I 
believe,  which  this  country  will  have  to  guard  against  more  than 
anything  else.  You  cannot  have  an  army  fighting  valiantly  for  a 
country  that  has  not  a  red  hot,  flaming  national  spirit.  No 


In  America 


83 


soldier  is  going  to  go  into  the  trenches  and  sacrifice  himself  to 
all  the  miseries  of  warfare  for  a  country  that  has  not  a  red  hot, 
flaming  national  spirit.  You  cannot  expect  it,  and  the  object 
of  the  German  general  staff  was  to  destroy  the  national  spirit 
of  America,  so  that  the  organization  of  any  national  spirit  back 
of  the  army  would  be  absolutely  impossible,  and  they  very  nearly 
succeeded.  A  few  years  more  and  there  would  not  have  been 
enough  national  spirit  in  the  United  States  to  count  for  any¬ 
thing  against  the  idea  of  ‘Deutschland  Uber  Alles,’  and  that  is 
the  real  meaning  of  this  national  German-American  Alliance. 

“Now,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  everyone  in  that  organi¬ 
zation  knew  what  it  was  doing,  and  that  it  was  a  part  of  the 
plan  of  the  German  general  staff;  but  that  does  not  detract 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  operating  in  favor  of  the  German  gen¬ 
eral  staff  as  a  matter  of  the  larger  strategy.  Munsterberg  him¬ 
self,  in  one  of  the  places  that  is  quoted  in  this  bulletin,  says: 

“  ‘Your  Plattsburg  camps  and  your  cantonments  can  not  pro¬ 
duce  an  army.  An  army  must  begin  in  the  nursery  and  the 
school  room.’ 

“This  is  supported  in  Bernhardi’s  famous  book,  ‘Germany  and 
the  Next  War.’ 

“The  ways  and  means  to  spread  the  propaganda  of  the  Ger¬ 
man-American  Alliance,  carry  out  \ts  object  and  undermine 
the  spirit  of  America,  evidently  attracted  considerable  study. 
President  Hexamer  himself  gave  the  matter  his  attention,  and 
the  Bulletin  finally  acted. 

“The  evidence  of  that  is  the  Official  Bulletin  for  September, 
1914,  page  1.  This  is  the  heading:  ‘Dr.  Hexamer’s  Appeal  in  the 
Interests  of  the  Old  Fatherland.’  Subheading  ‘All  Germans 
Should  Stand  Together  and  Oppose  Unfriendly  Attacks  in  a 
Vigorous  Manner.’ 

“Dr.  Hexamer,  on  the  third  of  August  issued  the  following 
appeal  to  the  German  press,  and  he  says  in  this  appeal  this: 

“  ‘In  every  city  there  should  be  a  literary  bureau  established 
with  a  thoroughly  competent  press  agent  who  could  immediately 
make  reply  to  the  virulent  attacks  and  statements  due  to  the 
ignorance  of  the  irresponsible  reporters  of  the  English  language 
press.  Furthermore,  there  should  be  established  in  every  branch 
society  funds  for  the  benefit  of  the  sufferers  from  the  war  in  the 
old  country.’ 

“Another  appeal,  which  follows  this  one  on  the  same  page, 
says: 

“  ‘To  all  German  teachers,  to  all  who  have  studied  in  German 
universities,  and  to  every  man  or  woman  of  German  race  with 
literary  ability: 

“  ‘The  National  Alliance  is  in  need  in  many  places  of  people 
who  can  undertake  a  vigorous  literary  polemic  against  the  Eng¬ 
lish  newspapers.  I  therefore  call  upon  all  who  are  in  a  position 
in  their  home  towns  to  read  the  English  press  and  the  English 
newspapers  to  send  articles  correcting  the  misstatements  to  the 
owners  and  editors  thereof,  and  also,  by  means  of  original  articles 
offered  to  the  Anglo-American  press,  to  work  for  the  German 
cause.  Those,  however,  who  have  difficulty  in  expressing  their 
thoughts  in  good  English  should  write  down  their  thoughts  in 
German  and  make  use  of  a  translator.’ 

“But  the  appeal  as  given  above  was  not  the  first  issued, 
although  jt  is  the  most  broad  and  certain  in  its  meaning. 

“On  August  3,  preceding  the  declaration  of  war  between  Ger¬ 
many  and  England,  when  the  German  ambassador  in  London 


84 


Propaganda 


was  ‘still  hopeful/  President  Hexamer  of  the  German-American 
Alliance  called  upon  Germans  in  the  United  States  to  take  up 
the  task  of  fighting  Anglo-Saxon  influence.” 

Taking  into  consideration  the  secret  and  also  the  open  pressure 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  people  and  their  representatives  by  this 
organization  and  others,  and  their  effort  to  postpone  America’s 
entrance  into  the  war,  and  to  paralyze  preparedness,  their  propa¬ 
ganda  work  can  be  seen  to  have  had  a  military  influence  directly 
translatable  into  soldiers  and  weapons. 


THE  GERMAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

One  of  the  most  delicate  problems  of  the  war  has  been  the 
treatment  due  such  clergymen  as  oppose  the  war  policies  of  the 
Government  from  the  shelter  of  the  pulpit.  The  clergy  as  a  whole 
have  been  intensely  patriotic,  but  in  every  demonstration  indi¬ 
viduals  have  given  out  utterances  of  the  most  seditious  character. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  some  of  these  should  be  of  the  German 
Lutheran  faith. 

Without  underrating  the  loyalty  of  the  vast  majority  of  the 
members  of  this  church,  it  is  important  to  realize  that  a  certain 
element  of  it  has  remained  irreconcilable  even  to  the  liberal  neces¬ 
sities  of  Americanization.  A  clergyman  of  this  denomination  has 
written  for  the  Military  Intelligence  Branch  a  study  of  the  attitude 
of  the  dangerous  faction,  and  of  the  use  made  of  even  the  most 
sacred  ties  by  the  German  propagandists.  This  clergyman  aroused 
vigorous  hostility  for  his  own  pro-Americanism.  His  statement 
may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  follows: 

“The  end  of  the  Thirty  Years  War  witnessed  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  giving  to  the  Calvinists  the  privileges  denied  them, 
but  granted  to  the  Lutherans  by  the  treaty  of  Augsburg.  The 
Calvinists  peopled  the  Northern  countries,  Sweden,  Denmark,  etc. 
the  Lutherans  South  Germany,  the  Catholics  North  Germany.  In 
German  Theological  Institutions,  Catholicism  and  Protestantism, 
which  latter  term  means  Lutheranism,  are  the  only  two  religions 
mentioned  or  taught.  German  propaganda  made  and  is  making 
the  best  use  of  Luther’s  ideas  of  the  relations  of  church  and 
state,  and  church  and  people,  a  democratic  constitution  with 
autocratic  application  as  e.  g.,  the  Lutheran  pastor,  though  chosen 
by  the  congregation,  becomes  the  Spiritual  head  by  Divine  inter¬ 
vention,  removable  for  heresy  alone,  and  then  only  by  the  highest 
church  authorities. 

“The  Lutheran  Church  of  the  United  States,  save  a  few 
synods,  has  largely  avoided  contact  with  American  religious  life, 
and  fosters  a  monarchical  sympathy.  The  use  of  the  German 
language  has  been  favored,  frequently  insisted  upon.  Dr.  Konuth 


In  America 


85 


of  the  German  council  says:  ‘Take  care  of  the  German  lan¬ 
guage — the  English  will  take  care  of  itself.’ 

“The  Lutheran  Church  has  generally  endeavored  to  keep  its 
congregations  free  from  America’s  ‘contaminating  influence.’  It 
has  kept  close  touch  with  the  church  and  other  associations  in 
Germany,  and  maintained  an  outspoken  distrust  of  democratic 
movements. 

“To  protect  the  congregations  from  Americanization  the  pa¬ 
rochial  school  system  was  kept  up,  with  strong  efforts  to  save  the 
second  and  third  generation  for  Germany.  The  public  schools 
were  feared  and  assailed  in  sermons,  church  papers  and  confer¬ 
ences.  Pastors  were  given  official  recognition  for  successful  pa¬ 
rochial  work  and  parents  constantly  impressed  with  the  dangers 
of  the  ‘heathenish’  public  schools. 

“German  Lutheran  Colleges  and  Academies  are  urged  upon 
its  people.  German  history  and  literature  are  taught  in  all  of 
these,  and  the  superiority  of  everything  ‘deutsch’  asserted. 

“In  the  State  of  Missouri,  with  1,100  Lutheran  teachers  and 
2, “00  pastors,  and  in  Pennsylvania,  the  second  and  even  third 
generation  of  German  Lutherans  cannot  read  or  understand 
English.  Efforts  of  young  pastors  to  introduce  English  in  their 
service  and  school  work  were  frowned  upon  officially,  even  call¬ 
ing  forth  reprimands. 

“The  elderly  German  clergyman  had  a  personal  interest  in 
this  work  since  the  process  of  Americanization  through  public 
schools  brings  nearer  the  day  when  his  congregation  will  forget 
their  German  and  tell  him  they  cannot  understand  ‘Luther’s 
language.’  Hence  the  old  clergyman  ‘stalks  through  American 
life,  essentially  a  German  Monarchist,  ignorant  of  this  country’s 
history  and  ideals;  scowling  at  its  national,  political  and  religious 
life;  too  narrow,  too  conceited  and  prejudiced  and  too  lazy  to 
allow  himself  to  doubt  his  right  to  his  anti-American  attitude — 
despising  to  become  a  citizen — the  agent  of  the  German  language 
press — an  ideal  agent  for  German  propaganda.’ 

“The  present  patriotic  activity  of  Lutheran  bodies  in  behalf 
of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Red  Cross,  etc.,  is  not  necessarily 
an  indication  of  a  change  of  the  prevailing  pro-German  sentiment, 
but  may  be  dictated  by  the  interest  of  Lutheranism  and  fear  of 
possible  measures  against  their  German  language. 

“A  unique  political  meeting,  since  known  as  the  ‘Embargo 
Conference,’  was  held  in  Chicago  in  January,  1916.  Members  of 
different  religious  denominations  were  invited  to  attend  this 
meeting,  with  the  promise  from  its  promoters  that  all  railway 
fares  and  hotel  bills  would  be  provided  for.  A  large  number  of 
Lutheran  ministers  attended,  and  Mr.  Edward  Goldbeck  (Prus¬ 
sian  officer  and  Chicago  Tribune  correspondent)  presided,  and 
instructed  his  hearers  to  vote  against  Wilson  and  to  advise 
their  parishioners  to  swell  the  anti-administration  vote.  The 
Lutheran  church  and  its  synods,  because  of  their  co-ordination 
and  solidity,  were  regarded  as  a  better  channel  for  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  German  propaganda  than  the  disconnected  branches  of 
the  German-American  Alliance.’’ 

Against  this  conference  must  be  set  the  action  of  the  Lutheran 
convention  at  Atlantic  City,  July  10,  1918,  resulting  in  the  con¬ 
solidation  of  the  United  Lutheran  Church  of  America,  with  5,000 
churches,  6  seminaries  and  12  colleges.  In  West  Hope,  Ohio,  July 


86 


Propaganda 


10,  1918,  a  German  Lutheran  minister  was  chased  from  his  home 
by  his  own  congregation  because  of  seditious  language  and  insults 
to  the  flag. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts,  the  loyalty  of  the  bulk  of  the  German 
Lutheran  membership  is  the  more  commendable.  Extra  credit  is 
due  also  to  an  organization  of  loyal  Germans  aiming  to  export 
American  ideals  of  liberty  to  Germany. 

THE  FRIENDS  OF  GERMAN  DEMOCRACY. 

Gradually  great  numbers  of  Germans  began  to  understand  how 
they  had  been  misled  by  such  organizations  as  the  Germ  an- American 
Alliance  and  by  many,  though  by  no  means  all,  of  the  German 
language  newspapers.  An  effort  has  recently  been  made  to.  re¬ 
deem  the  German  element  from  the  suspicion  of  being  largely 
hostile  to  the  American  ideal.  In  this  work  the  Friends  of  German 
Democracy  have  accomplished  excellent  results.  Their  larger  am¬ 
bition  is  to  spread  republican  propaganda  in  Germany,  but  inci¬ 
dentally  they  furnish  a  rallying  center  for  people  of  German 
descent. 

In  a  statement  of  June  14,  1918,  this  organization  publishes  an 
indictment  against  the  disloyal  or  stiff-necked  editors  who  used 
the  privileges  of  a  free  press  here  for  inculcating  the  doctrines  of 
an  empire  where  a  free  press  can  not  exist : 


“From  the  day  when  the  American  people  joined  the  ranks 
of  those  nations  who  battle  against  a  military  autocracy,  the 
demand  to  present  a  homogeneous,  whole-hearted,  unified  Amer¬ 
ica  free  from  foreign  inspirations  became  predominant.  A  thor¬ 
oughly  unified  America  became  the  issue,  and  only  100  per  cent 
Americans  had  a  place  in  it. 

“All  that  the  German  language  press  could  not  or  would  not 
see.  On  the  contrary,  these  newspapers  still  clung  to  opinions 
and  ideas  which  have  no  place  in  that  America  that  is  giving  its 
heart  blood  for  a  fighting  democracy;  ideas  which  they  had  been 
allowed  to  indulge  in  too  long.  And  when  these  German-Ameri- 
can  papers  really  acted  upon  purely  American  impulses  they  did 
it  with  a  certain  mental  reservation.  They  evidently  lacked  a 
elear  insight  to  visualize  that  the  proverbially  indulgent  Ameri¬ 
can  people,  now  at  war,  might  change  front  over  night,  as  soon 
as  the  grim  aspect  of  the  war  made  itself  felt,  as  soon  as  the  lists 
of  dead  and  wounded  and  the  disclosures  of  intrigue  and  prop¬ 
aganda  would  impress  the  public. 

“That  there  are  exceptions  among  these  newspapers  we  read¬ 
ily  grant.  There  are  some  who  have  learned  that  the  issue  of 
the  hour  is  to  have  nothing  in  common  with  that  political  Ger¬ 
many  as  it  is  today  which  does  not  include  the  great  mass  of 
German  people. 


In  America 


87 


“There  is  only  one  way.  It  is  perhaps  not  too  late  even  now  to 
prevent  the  catastrophe  which  threatens  them.  There  is  no 
soft  middle  ground,  no  standing  apart  any  more.  What  is  loyalty 
for  the  others  must  be  loyalty  for  them,  in  future,  but  not  one 
point  less.” 

INFLUENCE  OF  PROPAGANDA  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mr.  William  Hogg,  of  Texas,  vividly  describes  the  influence 
of  German  propaganda  before  the  war  when  he  says : 

“A  million  German  soldiers  in  America  would  have  done  ua 
less  harm  than  the  secret  propagandists  against  preparedness. 
The  presence  of  these  soldiers  would  have  roused  the  whole  na¬ 
tion  to  arms,  for  an  army  in  open  attack  stimulates.  Propa¬ 
ganda  stifles  and  discourages.  The  propagandist  is  more  danger¬ 
ous  than  the  invader  or  the  spy.” 

It  has  not  seemed  feasible  to  combat  hostile  propaganda  under 
the  laws  against  treason.  And  yet  it  is  in  a  very  real  sense  a  levying 
of  war  in  the  United  States.  What  else  is  it  but  a  levying  of  war? 
Indeed  it  is  the  only  form  of  war  open  to  the  partisans  of  Germany, 
since  they  have  not  been  able  to  control  the  ocean  and  send  their 
battleships  and  transports  against  our  shores. 

The  only  maritime  warfare  that  Germany  has  been  able  to 
wage  at  sea  has  been  by  the  submarine,  and  that  she  has  carried 
on  with  the  ruthless  cowardice  of  assassination.  Propaganda  bears 
a  striking  resemblance  to  submarine  attack  and  it  has  been  carried 
on  with  a  kindred  shamelessness. 

Since  our  entry  into  the  war,  America  is  too  far  away  to  be 
effectively  reached  by  a  rain  of  airship  literature,  but  her  propa¬ 
gandists  reach  the  uttermost  recesses  of  the  country  by  one  means 
or  another,  each  of  them  with  one  military  end  in  view,  that  of 
preventing  or  diminishing  our  effectiveness  on  the  firing  line. 

The  unscrupulous  efficiency  of  German  propaganda  is  seen 
in  the  willingness  of  that  nation  of  autocracy  to  make  use  of  any 
doctrine  or  any  zealot  likely  to  cause  trouble  for  America  or  any 
of  her  Allies.  In  Germany,  Belgian  and  French  prisoners  have 
been  forced  to  slavery  in  the  factories;  German  strikers  have 
been  put  under  military  control,  and  threatened  with  death  if 
they  fail  to  return  to  their  tasks,  and  even  members  of  the  Beichs- 
tag  have  been  sentenced  to  prison  for  the,  slightest  interest  in  the 
rights  of  laboring  men.  In  Germany,  the  military  power  is  supreme, 
and  sanctified  by  all  that  religious  pretence  can  hallow  it  with. 
But  for  other  countries  German  doctrine  advocated  chaos*. 


88 


Propaganda 


We  see  German  money  and  influence  devoted  to  helping  the 
causes  of  the  most  extreme  radicals,  the  wildest  anarchistic 
theories  and  the  complete  encouragement  of  the  vicious,  not  merely 
to  strike  but  to  destroy  factories,  ruin  machinery,  kill  workmen, 
and  stop  the  flow  of  military  supplies  at  any  cost.  We  see  the  most 
warlike  nation  of  modern  times  spending  money  and  scattering 
literature  to  spread  any  form  of  pacifism,  non-preparedness? 
religious  or  so-called  conscientious  objection  that  may  hamper  re¬ 
sistance. 

A  nation  which  carried  preparedness  to  the  extreme  limit  at 
home,  used  her  ambassadors,  consuls,  attaches  and  agents  of  every 
sort  to  discredit  and  defeat  the  movement  of  preparedness  in  the 
United  States.  Documentary  proofs  abound  of  moneys  spent  in 
the  effort  to  bribe,  wheedle,  or  frighten  members  of  Congress  into 
opposing  military  appropriations,  into  causing  a  deadlock  in  the 
vote  for  war,  and  afterward  into  opposing  every  obstacle  to  the  laws 
for  universal  service. 

PROPAGANDA  BY  NEWSPAPERS. 

The  elaborate  efforts  to  control  the  press  of  various  nations 
by  various  methods  have  already  been  referred  to.  When  the 
United  States  was  neutral,  the  German  language  newspapers  served 
as  an  army  already  entrenched.  This  did  not  prevent  numberless 
attempts  to  control,  to  divert,  to  deceive,  or  to  destroy  papers  pub¬ 
lished  in  English. 

The  story  of  the  outright  purchase  of  a  New  York  daily  paper 
after  a  prolonged  study  of  the  field,  has  just  been  published,  though 
it  was  well  known  in  many  departments  for  a  long  time. 

There  is  a  humorous  phase  to  the  matter  in  that  we  see  the 
solemn  conclave  making  its  choice  of  papers  to  buy  and  investing 
an  immense  sum  in  its  acquisition,  only  to  have  the  secret  discovered 
at  once  by  the  majority  of  the  public.  As  if  this  had  not  been 
embarrassment  enough,  America  declared  war  on  Germany  and 
it  was  necessary  for  the  paper  to  cease  even  the  subtly  poisonous 
tone  of  its  first  utterances  and  keep  up  in  self-defense  a  violent 
anti-German  uproar  to  distract  attention  from  its  past. 

The  ill-starred  American-born  agent  who  was  left  marooned 
with  the  paper  on  his  hands — and  the  maintenance  of  a  daily  paper 
is  sufficiently  troublesome  without  further  complications — kept  up 
a  lively  fire  against  Germany  with  the  German-owned  machine  gun, 
but  he  was  finally  taken  away  from  it. 


In  America 


89 


The  story  is  a  long  one,  but  even  so  incomplete  a  sketch  of 
German  propaganda  as  this  work  could  hardly  omit  a  reference  to 
the  immortal  comedy- tragedy  of  the  New  York  Evening  Mail. 
From  the  New  York Times  of  July  9,  1918,  the  following  excerpts 
are  made: 


“Edward  A.  Rumely,  Vice  President,  secretary  and  publisher 
of  The  New  York  Evening  Mail,  was  arrested  late  yesterday  after¬ 
noon  by  agents  of  the  Government,  charged  with  perjury.  The 
charge  grew  out  of  a  statement  filed  with  A.  Mitchell  Palmer,  the 
Alien  Property  Custodian,  in  which  Rumely  asserted  that  the 
Evening  Mail  was  an  American-owned  newspaper.  The  Govern¬ 
ment  is  in  possession  of  evidence  which,  it  is  held,  shows  that 
instead  of  being  owned  by  Americans,  the  paper  is  in  fact  owned 
by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  which  on  July  1,  1915,  paid 
to  Rumely,  through  Walter  Lyon,  of  the  former  Wall  Street  house 
of  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.,  the  sum  of  $735,000,  which  transferred 
the  control  of  the  newspaper  to  the  Kaiser. 

“The  Attorney  General  said  that  the  investigation,  which  had 
culminated  so  sensationally  just  before  dusk  of  yesterday,  had 
been  under  way  for  several  months,  the  Federal  and  State  au¬ 
thorities  working  hand  in  hand  and  with  the  cooperation  of  A. 
Mitchell  Palmer,  the  Alien  Property  Custodian. 

“The  charge  upon  which  Mr.  Rumely  was  committed  to  the 
Tombs,  the  papers  in  the  case  being  signed  by  United  States  Com¬ 
missioner  Hitchcock,  was  sworn  to  by  Deputy  Attorney  General 
Becker.  No  bail  was  fixed  at  the  time  of  the  commitment,  but 
late  last  night  it  was  announced  that  bail  had  been  fixed  in  the 
sum  of  $100,000  and  that  friends  of  the  accused  publisher  were 
trying  to  get  bondsmen. 

“In  many  respects  the  financial  features  of  the  transactions 
which  the  Government  charges  transferred  the  control  of  the 
Evening  Mail  from  American  to  German  interests  were  similar 
to  the  plan  followed  by  Bernstorff,  Adolph  Pavenstedt  and  Hugo 
Schmidt  in  transferring  the  huge  sum  which  was  paid  to  Bolo 
Pasha,  the  executed  French  traitor,  to  debauch  French  public 
opinion  in  favor  of  a  German-made  peace.  In  the  case  of  Bolo, 
the  funds,  which  totaled  about  $1,700,000,  passed  through  a  num¬ 
ber  of  banks  before  they  reached  Bolo. 

“In  this  case,  according  to  the  Government  agents,  there  were 
also  several  transfers,  Dr.  Heinrich  Albert,  the  former  German 
paymaster  in  this  country,  drawing  the  money  out  of  banks  in 
the  form  of  cashiers’  checks,  which  went  to  Walter  Lyon,  who,  in 
turn,  endorsed  them  to  the  firm  of  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.  Rens¬ 
korf,  Lyon  &  Co.,  it  is  alleged,  subsequently  paid  the  purchase 
amount  in  a  single  check  to  Lyon,  who  then,  it  is  charged,  paid 
it  to  Rumely.  For  this  transaction,  according  to  the  Government, 
Lyon  received  a  commission  of  $5,000. 

“The  banks  which  figured  in  the  original  transactions  which 
involved  the  first  payment  of  the  purchase  price  of  $735,000  were 
the  Equitable  Trust  Company,  the  Manhattan  Company,  the 
Columbia  Trust  Company,  and  the  Farmers’  Loan  and  Trust 
Company. 

“But  the  $750,000  payment  was  only  about  one-half  of  the 
financial  outlay  expended  by  the  Germans  in  their  efforts  to 
have  their  own  public  opinion-making  New  York  daily.  After 
the  Evening  Mail  had  passed  into  Rumely’s  control,  the  Attorney 


90 


Propaganda 


General  said  last  night,  it  soon  began  to  lose  money.  With  its 
change  from  pro-Ally  to  pro-German  sentiment  its  subscription 
lists  began  to  dwindle  and  its  income  from  other  sources  began 
to  decline.  The  result  was  that,  beginning  in  January,  1916,  and 
up  to  the  time  that  Bernstorff  was  dismissed  from  the  United 
States  the  Evening  Mail,  according  to  the  Government  agents, 
cost  the  Kaiser  an  additional  $626,000,  or  a  total  including  the 
purchase  price,  of  $1,361,000. 

“In  announcing  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Rumely,  and,  subsequently, 
in  making  public  some  of  the  details  of  the  international  transac¬ 
tion,  Attorney  General  Lewis,  referring  to  the  total  sum  of  $1,- 
361,000,  added  the  comment  that  ‘this  amount  represents  the  total 
moneys  paid  so  far  as  has  been  traced  by  the  Federal  and  State 
officials  up  to  the  present  time.’ 

“  ‘The  documents  in  the  case,’  added  the  Attorney  General, 
‘indicate  that  Rumely  purchased  the  stock  of  the  Mail  and  Ex¬ 
press  Company  from  Henry  L.  Stoddard  in  June,  1915,  the  money 
paid  to  Rumely  being  drawn  from  deposits  of  the  German  Gov¬ 
ernment  at  various  banks  in  the  City  of  New  York,  these  accounts 
standing  in  the  name  of  Bernstorff,  the  former  Ambassador  of 
Germany  at  Washington,  and  of  Dr.  Heinrich  Albert,  who  was 
know,  I  believe,  as  the  Commercial  Attache  of  the  Embassy. 
The  money  was  drawn  from  the  joint  accounts  of  Bernstorff  and 
Albert. 

“  ‘The  transfers  of  the  money  were  concealed  in  the  following 
manner:  Dr.  Albert  procured  various  banks,  where  the  German 
Government  had  accounts  in  his  own  and  Bernstorff’s  name,  to 
issue  cashier’s  checks  to  the  order  of  one  Walter  Lyon,  a  member 
of  the  former  Wall  Street  firm  of  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.  This 
firm  in  turn  paid  the  money  back  to  Lyon,  who  then  transferred 
it  to  Rumely.  We  have  the  checks  which  figured  in  these  various 
transfers.  Subsequently  and  after  the  Mail  began  to  decline  as  a 
money  maker  the  Germans  had  to  come  to  its  rescue  and  paid  out 
more  than  $600,000,  the  money  being  paid  to  Rumely  himself  or 
to  the  S.  S.  McClure  Newspaper  Corporation,  which  he,  Rumely, 
had  organized  for  the  purpose  of  the  transactions  referred  to. 

“  ‘In  some  of  the  financial  transactions  which  crop  up  all 
through  this  case  Dr.  Albert  drew  the  money  in  cash  and '  de¬ 
livered  it  to  the  law  firm  of  Hays,  Kaufmann  &  Lindheim,  then 
the  attorneys  of  the  German  Embassy  in  this  country,  who  took 
the  cash  to  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.,  who  in  turn  paid  it  over 
to  Rumely. 

“  ‘In  one  transaction,  which  had  come  to  our  knowledge, 
$75,000  in  bills  was  handled  in  the  manner  indicated.  After 
receiving  the  money  Rumely  would  draw  his  notes,  making  them 
payable  to  Lyon,  these  notes  covering  the  transfers  in  money 
and  pledged  stock  iii^  the  S.  S.  McClure  Newspaper  Corporation 
to  secure  the  loans. 

“  ‘Now  as  to  the  Alien  Property  Custodian,  Dr.  Rumely  in  his 
report  to  the  Alien  Property  Custodian  made  no  disclosures  of  his 
relation  with  Albert  or  Bernstorff,  or  with  the  Imperial  German 
Government.  Instead  he  reported  to  Mr.  Palmer,  the  Custodian, 
that  he  owed  $100,000  on  a  note  to  Hermann  Sielcken,  an  Amer¬ 
ican  citizen,  then  resident  in  Germany,  who  subsequently  died 
in  that  country,  and  he  further  reported  to  Mr.  Palmer  that  the 
notes  which  he  had  given  to  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.,  accompanied 
by  pledges  of  stock  in  the  S.  S.  McClure  Newspaper  Corporation, 
had  been  surrendered  to  him  in  exchange  for  the  $100,000  note 
in  September,  1917.  In  other  words,  Dr.  Rumely  stated  that  by 


In  America 


91 


giving  his  note  for  $100,000  he  had  obtained  a  return  of  notes 
aggregating  in  excess  of  $1,300,000  and  stock  representing  a  con¬ 
trolling  interest  in  the  Evening  Mail. 

“  ‘Rumely  has  claimed  recently  that  it  was  the  late  Mr. 
Sielcken  who  put  up  the  money  in  the  transaction.  Previously 
he  stated  that  Mrs.  Adolphus  Busch  of  St.  Louis  had  contributed 
to  the  fund.  On  her  arrival  in  this  country  a  few  weeks  ago 
Mrs.  Busch  stated  that  she  had  not  contributed  any  of  the  money, 
and,  furthermore,  added  that  she  had  never  heard  of  Rumely  up 
to  that  time.  I  may  also  state  that  the  Columbia  Trust  Com¬ 
pany,  the  executor  of  Mr.  Sielcken,  as  well  as  Mr.  Sielcken’s 
former  partners  in  the  firm  of  Crossman  &  Sielcken,  the  coffee 
importing  house,  have  informed  us  that,  so  far  as  they  know,  Mr. 
Sielcken  was  never  concerned  in  these  transactions.’ 

“Attorney  General  Lewis  in  answer  to  a  question  as  to  whether 
the  $1,361,000  which  is  involved  in  the  transactions  was  cabled 
to  this  country  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  used,  replied  that 
it  was  all  money  obtained  in  this  country  through  the  sale  of 
Imperial  German  Government  war  bonds.  The  bonds  were  sold 
to  American  citizens,  in  the  great  majority  of  instances  citizens 
of  German  birth  and  extraction.  One  of  the  men  who  is  said 
to  have  had  a  part  in  the  sale  of  the  bonds  was  Rudolph  Hecht, 
the  German  banker  and  friend  of  the  Kaiser,  who  is  now  in¬ 
terned  as  a  dangerous  enemy  alien  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Ga. 

“  ‘In  other  words,’  added  the  Attorney  General,  ‘persons  who 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States  provided  the  money,  through 
the  purchase  of  these  bonds,  which  made  possible  the  acquire¬ 
ment  of  the  Mail  for  propaganda  purposes  by  the  Germans.  Some 
of  this  money,  I  may  add,  found  its  way  through  G.  Amsinck  & 
Co.,  the  firm  wrhich  figured  in  the  huge  payments  which  were 
made  to  Bolo  Pasha  by  Bernstorff,  of  which  firm  Adolph  Paven- 
stedt,  now  interned,  was  then  the  head.  This  firm  has  since  been 
reorganized.’ 

“Assistant  United  States  District  Attorney  Harper,  who  has 
assisted  in  the  investigation  as  the  representative  of  Attorney 
General  Gregory,  answered  the  next  question,  which  was: 

“  ‘What  was  the  editorial  policy  of  the  Mail  which  the  Ger¬ 
mans  mapped  out  after  securing  control?’ 

“  ‘The  investigation  indicates,’  replied  Mr.  Harper,  ‘that  they 
favored  not  so  much  a  pro-German  as  an  anti-British  policy.  I 
think  the  files  of  the  paper  subsequent  to  the  passing  of  owner¬ 
ship  will  indicate  this  to  be  the  case.  This  policy  covered  the 
period  between  June,  1915,  and  February  3,  1917.  After  that  we 
got  into  the  war  and  its  tone  changed.’ 

“  ‘What  does  Rumely  have  to  say  about  all  this?’ 

“  ‘He  still  says  that  the  money  came  to  him  from  Sielcken.’ 

“Mr.  Becker  resumed  the  narrative  at  this  point.  He  ex¬ 
plained  certain  of  the  financial  features  of  the  case. 

“  ‘The  total  amount  advanced  for  the  first  or  purchasing  pay¬ 
ment,’  he  said,  ‘was  $740,000.  This  amount  covered  the  shares 
and  took  care  of  the  bonds  of  the  Mail  Company.  By  January 
of  191G  its  working  capital  had  been  depleted,  and  it  was  up  to 
Albert  to  come  across  and  he  did  so.  Between  January  14,  191G, 
and  February,  1917,  more  than  $G00,000  was  paid  to  Rumely. 
The  money  was  paid  in  various  amounts,  and  as  a  rule  in  monthly 
payments.  All  of  these  payments  were  covered  by  notes,  and 
on  September  2,  1917,  the  notes  given  by  Rumely  aggregated 
$1,361,000  secured  by  a  pledge  of  the  stocks,  the  notes  being  pay- 


92 


Propaganda 


able  to  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co.  and  held  by  the  law  firm  of  Hays, 
Kaufmann  &  Lindheim. 

“  ‘Rumely  by  this  time  had  given  up  the  notes  and  the  stock. 
That  is  they  went  out  of  his  possession,  and  on  September  27, 
1917,  he  delivered  his  own  note  for  $100,000  to  the  order  of  Her¬ 
mann  Sielcken  and  turned  it  over  to  Hays,  Kaufmann  &  Lind¬ 
heim  and  got  back  all  the  stock  in  exchange  for  it.  Rumely  now 
has  the  stock  and  Hays,  Kaufmann  &  Lindheim  the  note.  It  may 
be  of  interest  to  note  that  the  face  value  of  this  stock  is  not  more 
than  $600,000. 

“  ‘Mr.  Palmer,  the  Alien  Property  Custodian,  called  for  a  re¬ 
port  from  Rumely  in  October  of  last  year,  and  on  December  4 
Rumely  filed  his  report,  and  in  that  report  he  stated,  as  I  have 
already  indicated,  that  on  February  3,  1917,  he  purchased  the 
stock  for  $100,000,  the  money  being  advanced  by  Sielcken.’ 

“  ‘Does  the  German  Government  or  the  Kaiser  as  its  head  own 
the  Mail  at  this  moment?’  Mr.  Becker  was  asked. 

“  ‘To  the  best  of  our  knowledge  and  belief  that  is  the  situation,’ 
was  the  reply. 

“  ‘What  about  Henry  L.  Stoddard,  the  former  owner  of  tl 
Mail  and  now  the  President  of  the  publishing  company,  did  he 
know  the  real  ownership  of  the  paper?’ 

“  ‘We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Stoddard  was  kept 
in  ignorance  of  the  real  ownership.  Mr.  Stoddard  owns  the  bonds 
of  the  company  which  are  coming  due  in  October,  and  we  are 
informed  that  he  threatened  to  foreclose  those  bonds  if  the  paper 
was  run  in  any  way  disloyal  to  the  United  States.’ 

“  ‘How  many  payments  did  Albert  and  other  representatives 
of  the  Kaiser  make?’  Mr.  Becker  was  asked. 

“  ‘I  should  say  about  fifty.’ 

“Mr.  Becker  then  exhibited  the  original  letter  from  Dr.  Albert 
to  the  Equitable  Trust  Company  asking  for  the  issuance  of  a 
$350,000  cashier’s  check.  This  letter  reads: 

“  ‘45  Broadway,  New  York,  May  27,  1915. 

“  ‘Equitable  Trust  Company,  New-  York  City. 

“  ‘Dear  Sirs:  Please  issue  your  cashier’s  check  for  $350,000  in 
favor  of  Mr.  Walter  Lyon  and  charge  the  amount  to  the  account 
of  J.  Bernstorff  and  myself. 

“  ‘H.  Albert.’ 

“The  Equitable  Trust  Company  replied  by  issuing  the  check 
for  the  amount  asked  on  the  Hanover  National  Bank,  the  date  of 
the  check  being  May  27,  1915.  The  check  was  endorsed  by  Lyon  * 
to  the  order  of  Renskorf,  Lyon  &  Co. 

“On  the  same  date,  according  to  Mr.  Becker,  Dr.  Albert  wrote 
a  letter  to  the  Columbia  Trust  Company,  in  which  he  asked  for 
a  cashier’s  check  for  $200,000.  The  letter  of  application  was 
worded  the  same  as  the  one  to  the  Equitable  Trust  Company. 
Also  on  May  27  two  checks,  one  for  $185,000  and  the  other  for 
$5,000,  were  drawn  on  the  Farmers’  Loan  and  Trust  Company, 
completing  the  purchase  price  of  $735,000,  and  also  providing 
for  the  payment  of  the  $5,000  commission.  These  checks  were 
signed  by  G.  Amsinck  &  Co.  Amsinck  &  Co.  have  informed  At¬ 
torney  General  Lewis  that  the  letter  of  Albert’s  applying  for 
these  checks  was  returned  to  Dr.  Albert.  On  June  1  the  full 
amount  of  the  purchase  money  was  paid  over  to  Rumely  by  Lyon.” 

The  exposure  of  this  transaction  was  made  just  as  this  book  was 
going  to  press,  and  it  is  impossible  either  to  do  it  justice  or  to 


In  America 


93 


chronicle  the  further  developments.  An  editorial  in  the  New  York 
Tribune  of  July  12,  1918,  is  worth  quoting  as  a  warning  against 
taking  too  light  a  view  of  the  case : 

“the  invisible  enemy. 

“There  is  a  predisposition  to  be  diverted  by  the  thought  that 
Germany  was  swindled  in  her  efforts  to  buy  public  opinion  in  this 
country.  She  bought  the  Evening  Mail  and  goodness  knows  wliat 
else,  and  spent  millions  for  propaganda,  and  what  good  did  it 
do  her?  Did  it  keep  us  from  going  to  war  with  autocracy? 

“That  is  what  many  people  are  saying.  It  is  the  moral  that 
some  are  accepting,  even* the  New  York  World ,  which  foretells 
that  in  the  next  edition  of  a  well  known  book  on  popular  delu¬ 
sions  there  will  be  a  chapter  on  the  gullibility  of  the  German 
propagandist  who  thought  by  the  liberal  use  of  money  to  per¬ 
suade  the  American  people  against  their  own  interests. 

“Which  all  goes  to  show  how  little  people  know  about  propa¬ 
ganda,  especially  German  propaganda,  and  how  like  a  virgin 
field  to  the  first  wheat  sowers  this  country  full  of  innocent  news¬ 
papers  must  have  seemed  to  the  Kaiser’s  agents — Dernburg,  von 
Bernstorff,  Albert  and  other  Huns. 

“The  public  mind  to  the  trained  propagandist  is  a  pool  into 
which  phrases  and  thoughts  are  dropped  like  acids,  with  a  fore¬ 
knowledge  of  the  reactions  that  will  take  place,  just  as  Professor 
Loeb  at  the  Rockefeller  Institute  can  make  a  thousand  crusta¬ 
ceans  stop  swimming  aimlessly  about  in  the  bowl  and  rush  with 
one  headlong  impulse'  to  the  side  where  the  light  comes  from, 
merely  by  introducing  into  the  water  a  little  drop  of  chemical. 

“We  do  not  know  how  successful  German  propaganda  has 
been  in  this  country.  We  shall  never  know.  But  it  is  notorious 
that  the  German  government’s  agents  have  shrewdly  exploited 
internal  distractions  and  disaffections.  They  have  fanned  the  Irish 
question.  They  probably  helped  to  finance  the  Sinn  Fein  row,  which, 
by  the  way,  stopped  very  abruptly  when  criminal  prosecutions 
started.  They  have  sought  to  inflame  the  negro  in  his  grievance. 
They  have  helped  revive  the  ancient  feud  between  the  A.  P.  A.  and 
the  Catholic  Church.  They  have  procured  to  be  printed  in  American 
papers  editorials  that  could  be  quoted  in  Mexico  to  prove  the 
Americans  perfidious  in  their  intentions  toward  that  country. 
They  have  widely  and  very  adroitly  suggested  Japan  to  the 
American  imagination  in  an  extremely  sinister  light.  They  have 
sown  dark  thoughts  against  our  allies,  especially  Great  Britain 
and  Italy.  They  have  assisted  to  spread  the  capitalistic  idea  of 
war  among  the  radicals.  They  have  most  efficiently  sustained  a 
large  body  of  pacifist  opinion  in  the  country,  disguised  latterly 
as  opinion  for  a  diplomatic  peace. 

“This  is  not  to  say  that  the  German  propagandist  ever  posi¬ 
tively  originated  anything.  He  is  not  so  stupid.  His  business 
is  to  work  with  the  elements,  materials  and  conditions  already 
existing  and  to  shape  and  develop  them  scientifically.  He  did  not 
invent  the  negro  problem.  He  has  only  exploited  it.  So  with 
everything. 

“And  if  by  all  these  means  together  the  sum  of  this  country’s 
war  activities  could  be,  or  has  been,  retarded  as  much  as  one  week, 
that  achievement  alone  might  have  seemed  to  the  German  gov¬ 
ernment  worth  any  amount  of  money.  Who  will  say  that  our  war 
programme  is  not  three  months  behind  what  it  might  be?  Who 


94 


Propaganda 


will  say  how  much  of  the  delay  has  been  owing,  directly  or  in¬ 
directly,  to  the  work  of  German  agents  in  this  country? 

“But  that  is  only  the  obvious  aspect.  The  most  difficult  part 
of  the  war  is  yet  to  come — at  the  very  end,  when  peace  terms  are 
on  the  table.  What  would  an  organized  power  of  suggestion  in  this 
country  be  worth  to  the  German  government  at  that  time?” 


PROPAGANDA  BY  BOOKS. 

Books  have  been  among  the  chief  instruments  of  propaganda. 
In  France  the  highly  praised  literary  masterpiece  translated  into 
English  as  “Under  Fire,”  by  Henri  Barbusse,  proved  to  be  useful 
for  discrediting  the  French  soldier  because  of  its  accounts  of  bru¬ 
tality  and  indifference  in  individual  cases  and  mercilessly  realistic 
descriptions  of  the  hardships  of  trench  life. 

This  book  was  taken  up  eagerly  by  German  propagandists,  and 
it  appeared  on  the  lists  of  all  the  dealers  in  pro-German  litera¬ 
ture. 

German  book  dealers  having  been  permitted  to  continue  their 
activities,  some  of  them  have  transacted  business  by  wireless  with 
book  publishers  in  Germany,  and  smuggled  their  works  into  this 
country,  or  reprinted  them  on  American  presses  for  distribution 
throughout  the  United  States  and  through  South  America. 

An  example  is  the  case  of  Ritter  &  Company,  of  Boston,  im¬ 
porters  of  German  books,  and  publishers  of  an  alleged  “History  of 
the  European  War,”  written  by  an  American,  but  actually  a  dis¬ 
torted  falsification  of  everv  historical  motive  or  event.  The  Post 

«✓ 

Office  Department  seized  some  of  the  publications  of  this  house  on 
their  way  to  South  American  countries;  later,  the  evidence  being 
more  than  sufficient,  the  warerooms  were  raided,  and  the  head  of  the 
firm  arrested;  being  of  German  birth  and  citizenship,  and  also  a 
'eservist,  he  can  be  reached  by  the  law. 

One  section  of  shelves  was  frankly  marked  “Propaganda.” 

The  American  author’s  “History”  is  an  openly  vicious  assault 
on  American  honor  and  it  has  no  end  except  to  justify  the  worst 
deeds  of  Germany  and  slander  the  noblest  deeds  of  the  Allies. 
The  only  mention  it  makes  of  atrocities  in  Belgium,  for  instance, 
is  that  Belgian  women  gouged  out  the  eyes  of  wounded  German 
soldiers.  The  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  is  dismissed  as  having 
caused  “some  excitement”  owing  to  a  “carefully  worked-up  feeling.” 
A  reader  of  this  historv  who  '  -I  no  other  information  could  onlv 
marvel  at  the  brutality,  cruelty  and  rapacity  of  Great  Britain, 


hi  America 


95 


France,  Italy  and  the  peculiarly  vicious  United  States  in  attack¬ 
ing  the  innocent  and  peace-abiding  Germans. 

The  author  for  years  conducted  a  department  of  military  review 
in  a  daily  paper.  His  tone  was  so  blatantly  offensive  as  to  arouse 
protest.  Later  he  modified  his  insults  -slightly  but  continued  to  be 
more  insidious  than  ever  in  his  comments.  While  protesting  his 
loyalty  when  sober,  in  his  drunken  moods  he  toasted  the  Kaiser 
and  denounced  the  President. 

He  is  typical  of  the  newspaper  and  book  propagandist.  Many 
of  the  pro-German  publishers  disguise  their  attacks  by  carefully 
veiled  expressions,  and  by  inculcating  doubt  and  distrust. 

Another  favorite  method  is  to  surround  their  outrageous  anti- 
Americanism  with  violent  headlines  of  patriotic  or  anti- German 
tenor. 

Various  sections  of  the  country  have  so  large  an  element  of 
foreign  and  hostile  population  that  their  newspapers  have  dared 
almost  every  insolence ;  encouraged  the  resistance  to  the  draft,  ridi¬ 
culed  the  Liberty  Loan  and  War  Savings  Stamp  campaigns,  dis¬ 
seminated  every  possible  scandal  or  slandered  every  public  official. 

Newspapers  in  almost  every  language  are  published  in  this 
country.  Many  of  them  have  shown  unquestionable  loyalty  to  the 
cause  of  their  adopted  nation;  but  numberless  others  have  been 
subsidized  to  fight  for  Germany  in  every  way,  to  stir  up  discontent 
among  the  soldiers  and  their  parents  and  to  propagate  mutiny. 

Some  of  the  newspapers  in  the  foreign  languages  for  a  long 
while  fought  the  cause  of  their  Fatherland  openly.  Gradually  they 
were  coerced  into  disguising  at  least  their  contempt  for  the  country 
of  their  residence  and  prosperity.  Eventually  it  was  found  neces¬ 
sary  to  compel  them  to  file  an  English  translation  of  every  article. 
Many  of  them  were  denied  the  mails. 

But  these  hindrances  simply  awoke  the  ingenuity  of  the  propa¬ 
gandists,  and  it  is  only  recently  that  the  rising  wave  of  public 
indignation  has  forced  many  of  them  into  discontinuing  publication 
altogether,  or  into  adopting  the  English  language. 

The  silly  fanatic  who  hisses  the  flag,  shouts  for  the  Kaiser,  or 
awkwardly  flaunts  his  pro-Germanism  and  is  lynched,  or  painted 
yellow,  or  made  to  kiss  the  flag,  is  not  the  dangerous  man,  for 
he  is  plainly  lacking  in  intelligence  and  even  in  discretion. 

The  spy  or  propagandist  will  not  so  advertise  himself,  but  will 
rather  make  an  open  show  of  Americanism,  fly  the  flag,  buy  bonds 


96 


Propaganda 


with  ostentation  and  probably  denounce  the  Kaiser.  He  can  afford 
a  small  investment  in  an  excellent  security,  and  he  is  not  eager  to 
court  the  wrath  of  the  patriots  about  him,  for  he  thus  destroys  his 
own  usefulness. 

He  will  rather  work  by  means  of  the  various  tools  at  hand, 
and  endeavor  to  drop  the  poison  of  doubt  or  fear  into  the  cup  of 
public  enthusiasm. 

PROPAGANDA  BY  FILM  AND  DRAMA. 

The  motion  picture  offers  him  a  most  inviting  medium  for 
propaganda.  It  appeals  to  a  vast  public,  even  to  those  who  can  not 
read.  In  the  course  of  a  dramatic  or  melodramatic  story,  he  can 
carry  across  to  the  audience  the  most  dangerous  messages.  Any¬ 
thing  that  presents  our  cause  or  that  of  our  Allies  in  a  bad  light, 
exerts  just  so  much  power  in  the  Kaiser’s  favor. 

An  instance  of  the  methods  employed  in  film  propaganda  is  the 
case  of  Robert  Goldstein  and  “The  Spirit  of  ’76.”  This  was  a 
Revolutionary  story  and  so  innocent  as  he  presented  it  to  the  Board 
of  Censors  that  they  passed  it  without  suspicion. 

Once  they  had  approved  it,  he  caused  to  be  inserted  about  1,500 
feet  of  matter  carefully  prepared.  This  represented  scenes  in  the 
old  prison  ships  and  showed  British  keepers  treating  American 
prisoners  with  fearful  brutality.  A  British  soldier  was  represented 
as  impaling  a  baby  on  a  bayonet  and  whirling  it  around  his  head ; 
other  as  shooting  women,  dragging  American  girls  away  by  the 
hair. 

The  one  result  of  such  scenes  would  be  to  awaken  ancient 
hostilities  against  our  Ally.  The  picture  was  quickly  and  properly 
suppressed.  Investigation  of  the  producer  revealed  his  German 
motive  and  support.  The  name  of  Franz  Bopp,  the  German  consul 
involved  also  in  the  Hindu  conspiracy,  appeared  also  here  as  one 
who  had  offered  to  give  financial  backing  to  the  picture. 

The  manufacturers  of  the  film  asked  that  it  be  returned  to 
them,  after  its  seizure  under  search  warrant  under  title  XI  of  the 
Espionage  Act,  but  Judge  Bledsoe,  of  the  United  States  District 
Court,  Southern  Division  of  California,  Southern  Division,  refused 
the  motion.  His  ruling  is  so  eloquent  a  statement  of  both  the 
wrong  and  the  right  spirit  in  such  a  situation  that  it  is  quoted 
entire : 

“The  facts  developed  in  this  proceeding  show  that  this  photo¬ 
play,  ‘The  Spirit  of  ’76/  attempts  to  portray  some  of  the  more 


In  America 


97 


important  phases  of  the  American  War  for  Independence,  and 
special  scenes,  like  Paul  Revere’s  Ride,  the  signing  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  like,  are  given  particular 
mention  and  prominence.  In  addition — and  these  are  the  parts 
of  the  film  inveighed  against — scenes  purporting  to  illustrate  the 
Wyoming  Valley  Massacre  are  shown.  A  British  soldier  is  pic¬ 
tured  impaling  on  a  bayonet  a  baby  lying  in  its  cradle  and  then 
whirling  it  around  his  head  so  impaled.  Other  unspeakable 
atrocities  committed  by  British  soldiers,  including  the  shooting 
of  harmless  women,  the  dragging  off,  sometimes  by  the  hair  of 
the  head,  of  young  American  girls,  and  so  forth,  are  exhibited. 

“Because  of  adverse  criticism  and  objection,  before  the  sched¬ 
uled  initial  performance  a  private  exhibition  of  the  picture  was 
had,  attended  by  divers  local  and  governmental  representatives. 
At  this  performance  none  of  the  objectionable  features  above 
mentioned  were  shown,  and  in  consequence  no  open  objection  to 
the  proposed  run  of  the  play  was  voiced.  Immediately  following 
this  preliminary  presentation,  though,  the  director,  Goldstein, 
inserted  into  the  film  in  appropriate  places  the  scenes  of  the 
Wyoming  Massacre  just  referred  to  and  proceeded  to  show  them 
at  the  ensuing  evening  performance.  This  he  did,  he  says,  ‘to 
excite  the  audience’  and  attract  greater  attention  to  his  produc¬ 
tion. 

“The  film  is  owned  by  a  corporation,  but  seems  to  be  and  to 
have  been  managed  by  Goldstein,  the  man  who  wrote  the  scenario 
and  who  has  ‘produced’  the  picture.  As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  a 
good  many  thousands  of  dollars,  probably  in  excess  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  have  been  expended  in  the  work  of  such  pro¬ 
duction. 

“I  have  listened  very  carefully  to  the  statement  of  Mr.  Scott, 
counsel  for  the  stockholders  in  the  film  company,  and  I  sympa¬ 
thize  with  them  for  having  made  an  investment  in  this  film  with 
no  knowledge  of  its  true  character.  The  various  stockholders, 
of  course,  I  do  not  know,  and,  in  consequence,  can  not  know 
their  attitude  toward  the  presentation  of  this  film.  I  have  given 
careful  consideration  to  the  suggestion  made  by  counsel  with 
respect  to  the  possibility  and  even  probability  of  financial  losses 
inuring  to  the  stockholders,  and  perhaps  of  some  considerable 
consequence.  Bearing  all  this  in  mind,  however,  and  assuming 
that  you  and  your  associates  are  going  to  suffer  some  consider¬ 
able  loss,  this  court  at  this  time  is  in  no  mood  to  weigh  the 
financial  losses  of  a  few  individuals  as  against  possible  detriment 
to  the  United  States  of  America.  If  it  be  that  some  will  have  to 
suffer  loss,  yet  it  is  only  a  financial  loss,  and,  at  worst,  will  be 
only  a  fractional  part  of  the  loss  that  others  are  going  to  have 
to  suffer — some  even  of  their  lives — because  of  the  war  in  which 
we  are  now  engaged. 

“History  is  history,  and  fact  is  fact.  There  is  no  doubt  about 
that.  At  the  present  time,  however,  the  United  States  is  con¬ 
fronted  with  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  greatest  emergency  we 
have  ever  been  confronted  with  at  any  time  in  our  history. 
There  is  now  required  of  us  the  greatest  amount  of  devotion  to 
a  common  cause,  the  greatest  amount  of  co-operation,  the  great¬ 
est  amount  of  efficiency,  and  the  greatest  amount  of  disposition 
to  further  the  ultimate  success  of  American  arms  that  can  be 
conceived,  and  as  a  necessary  consequence  no  man  should  be  per¬ 
mitted,  by  deliberate  act,  or  even  unthinkingly,  to  do  that  which 
will  in  any  way  detract  from  the  efforts  which  the  United  States 
is  putting  forth  or  serve  to  postpone  for  a  single  moment  the 


98 


Propaganda 


early  coming  of  the  day  when  the  success  of  our  arms  shall  be 
a  fact  and  the  righteousness  of  our  cause,  shall  have  been  dem¬ 
onstrated. 

“We  are  engaged  in  a  war  in  which  Great  Britain  is  an  ally  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  a  fact  that  we  were  at  war  with  Great 
Britain  during  the  Revolutionary  times,  and  whatever  occurred 
there  is  written  upon  the  page  of  history  and  will  have  to  stand, 
whomsoever  may  be  injured  or  hurt  by  the  recital  or  recollection 
of  it.  But  this  is  no  time,  in  my  judgment  (this  is  the  thought 
that  controls  me  in  this  matter),  whatever  may  be  the  excuse, 
whether  it  be  a  financial  return  or  otherwise,  for  the  exploitation 
of  those  things  that  may  have  the  tendency  or  effect  of  sowing 
dissension  among  our  people  and  of  creating  animosity  or  want  of 
confidence  between  us  and  our  allies,  because  so  to  do  weakens 
our  efforts,  weakens  the  chance  of  our  success,  impairs  our 
solidarity  and  renders  less  useful  the  lives  we  are  giving  to  the 
end  that  this  war  may  soon  be  over  and  peace  may  soon  become 
a  thing  substantial  and  permanent  with  us.  I  am  in  no  mood, 
either,  particularly  after  having  listened  to  the  testimony  of  this 
man  Goldstein,  to  consider  the  suggestion  that  the  film  be  re¬ 
turned  and  so  much  of  it  be  permitted  to  be  exhibited  as  has  not 
met  with  special  obiection. 

“It  is  a  fair  inference  from  the  circumstances,  considering 
the  hearing  had  in  Chicago,  the  objections  then  made,  the  lan¬ 
guage  used  in  characterizing  its  scenes  of  atrocity  as  being 
‘reprehensible’  and  as  evidencing  ‘malice,’  that  the  disposition 
and  purpose  of  the  whole  play  in  its  deeper  significance  is  to 
incite  hatred  of  England  and  England’s  soldiers.  And  it  is  not 
at  all  necessary  that  it  should  be  shown  to  have  such  effect;  it 
is  enough  if  it  is  calculated  reasonably  so  to  excite  or  inflame 
the  passions  of  our  people  or  some  of  them  as  that  they  will  be 
deterred  from  giving  that  full  measure  of  co-operation,  sympathy, 
assistance  and  sacrifice  which  is  due  to  Great  Britain  simply  be¬ 
cause  of  the  fact  that  Great  Britain,  as  an  ally  of  ours,  is  work¬ 
ing  with  us  to  fight  the  battle  which  we  think  strikes  at  our  very 
existence  as  a  nation. 

“Ordinarily  the  exploitation  of  such  harmless,  in  one  sense, 
highly  inspiring  in  another  sense,  scenes  as  Paul  Revere’s  Ride, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  things  in  history,  could  not 
be  detrimental  or  distasteful  to  anybody.  Ordinarily  it  could 
be  put  on  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  a  source  of  unending  delight  and 
gratification  to  any  man,  be  he  American  or  be  he  English — but 
that  is  not  the  point.  There  are  interspersed  in  this  play  those 
things  which  tend  to  appeal  to  the  passions  of  our  nature,  which 
tend  to  arouse  our  revenge  and  to  question  the  good  faith  of  our 
ally  Great  Britain  and  to  make  us  a  little  bit  slack  in  our  loyalty 
to  Great  Britain  in  this  great  catastrophe  or  emergency.  There¬ 
fore,  as  I  say,  this  is  no  time  or  place  for  the  exploitation  of  that 
which,  at  another  time  or  place,  or  under  different  circumstances, 
might  be  harmless  and  innocuous  in  its  every  aspect.  It  is  like 
the  ‘right  of  free  speech’  upon  which  such  great  stress  is  now 
being  laid.  That  which  in  ordinary  times  might  be  clearly  per¬ 
missible,  or  even  commendable,  in  this  hour  of  national  emer¬ 
gency,  effort  and  peril  may  be  as  clearly  treasonable  and  there¬ 
fore  properly  subject  to  review  and  repression.  The  constitu¬ 
tional  guaranty  of  ‘free  speech’  carries  with  it  no  right  to  subvert 
the  purposes  and  destiny  of  the  nation. 

“In  addition,  this  man,  by  his  own  admission,  knew  that  these 


In  America 


99 


things — the  bayoneting  of  the  babe  and  the  like — had  been  se¬ 
verely  criticised  and  were  inhibited.  He  knew  that  objection  had 
been  made  to  them.  He  knew  just  as  well  as  he  knows  we  are 
sitting  here  now  that  the  private  presentation  of  this  film  on 
last  Tuesday  morning  was  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  if  there  was 
anything  objectionable  in  it.  To  fit  it  for  such  private  presenta¬ 
tion  it  was  gone  over  by  him  with  a  fine-tooth  comb,  no  doubt; 
but  immediately  thereafter  a  sedulous  effort  was  indulged  in  by 
him  to  insert  those  things  which  would  tend  to  ‘excite’  and  to 
create  a  prejudice  against  Great  Britain.  This  demands  an  in¬ 
quiry  into  the  ultimate  motives  and  purposes  of  this  man,  and 
no  doubt  justifies  other  and  different  action  against  him.  But  in 
any  event,  referring  to  the  special  problem  now  before  us  and 
considering  only  the  harm  now  to  come  to  us,  I  feel  that  I  can 
do  no  less  than  to  say  that  so  far  as  it  is  within  the  power  of 
this  court,  this  thing  has  got  to  stop. 

“I  have  no  disposition,  of  course,  to  confiscate  anyone’s  prop¬ 
erty.  There  may  come  a  time  and  place  where  this  play,  devoid 
of  some  of  its  horror,  which  never  ought  to  be  in  it  at  any  time, 
and  devoid  of  its  immorality,  which  is  and  ought  to  be  shocking 
to  any  man  who  possesses  a  respectable  quantum  of  decency  in 
his  make-up — devoid  of  those  things,  the  time  may  come  when  it 
could  be  put  on,  and  put  on  entertainingly  and  refreshingly  be¬ 
fore  an  audience  of  American  people.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
the  film  is  of  such  a  character  that  it  can  be  used  to  our  national 
disadvantage  in  time  of  national  emergency,  and  this  can  not  be 
allowed.  If  the  result  be  to  bring  a  loss  upon  those  who  are 
financially  interested,  so  be  it.  It  is  merely  a  loss  they  must  sus¬ 
tain  because  of  the  unwisdom  they  have  demonstrated  in  trust¬ 
ing  their  financial  affairs  to  one  who  possesses  such  a  slight  modi¬ 
cum  of  appreciation  of  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  as  does  this 
man  who  is  presenting  and  claiming  the  right  to  present  this 
picture  at  this  time. 

“The  motion  for  the  return  of  the  film  will  be  denied  without 
prejudice.  It  will  be  held  in  the  possession  of  the  marshal  until 
such  time  as,  under  changed  conditions,  it  may  properly  be  pre¬ 
sented,  and  the  district  attorney  is  directed  to  prepare  for  the 
court  a  warrant  for  the  seizure  of  the  original,  which  is  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  this  court,  as  shown  by  the  testimony  given 
here,  and  that  will  be  put  in  the  same  place  and  kept  under  the 
same  surveillance.” 


In  a  play  recently  produced,  a  Belgian  girl  having  taken  refuge 
in  England,  was  outraged  by  an  English  officer,  who  married  her 
eventually  in  order  to  legitimitize  her  child.  The  purpose  of  such  a 
drama  could  only  be  to  counteract  the  horror  of  the  world  against 
the  atrocities  in  Belgium.  The  concidence  was  not  strange  that 
the  playwright  had  changed  his  name  from  one  of  German  origin 
to  one  of  English  sound. 

Public  sentiment  has  grown  so  ardent  that  such  efforts  to  in¬ 
fluence  it  are  likely  to  meet  with  short  life  and  vigorous  rebuke. 
A  safer  course  is  to  encourage  and  finance  those  factions  of  the 
native  population  that  are  always  against  the  Government,  or  have 


100 


Propaganda 


some  personal  grievance  or  crusade,  so  important  in  their  eyes  that 
the  winning  of  the  war  is  of  minor  importance,  or  war  itself  inde¬ 
fensible  on  any  grounds. 


i 


\ 


CHAPTER  V. 


COOPERATING  AGENCIES. 

It  would  be  hysterical  and  ridiculous  to  blame  or  credit  Germany 
or  German  inspiration  with  all  of  the  difficulties  put  in  the  way 
of  a  successful  prosecution  of  the  war.  Some  of  the  most  danger¬ 
ous  elements  have  no  love  of  Germany,  and  even  include  her  among 
their  detestations.  But  whoever,  for  whatever  motives,  frustrates 
or  diminishes  the  maximum  efficiency  of  the  machinery  for  execut¬ 
ing  the  will  of  the  nation  in  this  war,  has  the  hearty  support  of 
the  enemy  agencies.  Sooner  or  later,  almost  without  fail  the  in¬ 
vestigation  discloses  among  the  moving  spirits  a  person  of  hostile 
proclivities. 

But  the  nativity  of  the  agent  is  not  the  important  thing.  The 
enemy  of  the  country  is  he  who  does  his  bit  against  our  victory. 

RELIGIOUS  PROPAGANDA. 

/ 

The  vast  majority  of  religious  people  in  America  are  revolted 
by  the  disasters  Imperial  Germany  has  brought  upon  civilization 
in  her  blood-thirst,  ruthlessness  and  land-lust,  and  not  least  of  all 
in  her  protestations  of  divine  sanction  and  holy  purpose  while  de¬ 
stroying  cathedrals,  convents  and  holy  places. 

But  nearly  all  of  the  creeds  have  had  adherents  who  adhere 
also  to  Germany  and  who  have  carried  their  opposition  to  our  suc¬ 
cess  under  the  cloak  of  religion. 

The  pastors  of  some  churches  have  retained  their  Prus- 
sianism  and  rivalled  the  amazing  pulpit  utterances  of  the  German 
preachers  who  have  proclaimed  that  the  Kaiser  is  a  Messiah  and 
the  German  people  divinely  selected  instruments  to  spread  God’s 
own  Kultur  among  the  vile  heathen.  In  America  some  of  the 
alien  clergymen  have  thought  it  better  policy  to  preach  the 
beauties  of  peace  and  non-resistance.  We  thus  see  the  clerical 
propagandists  blowing  both  hot  and  cold.  Fire  and  sword  are  sancti¬ 
fied  to  the  Kaiser,  but  they  are  diabolic  in  America. 

With  these  partisans  a  large  number  of  American  clergymen 
have  collaborated  more  or  less  unconsciouslv.  A  Prussian  clervgman 
said  that  the  lives  of  all  the  Belgians  and  French  were  not  import¬ 
ant  compared  to  the  life  and  safety  of  one  German  soldier.  The 
Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes,  of  New  York,  stated  in  a  sermon  re¬ 
printed  in  “The  Finished  Mystery “The  war  itself  is  wrong.  Its 

101 


102 


Propaganda 


prosecution  will  be  a  crime.  There  is  not  a  question  raised,  an 
issue  involved,  a  cause  at  stake,  which  is  worth  the  life  of  one  blue¬ 
jacket  on  the  sea,  or  one  khaki  coat  in  the  trenches.” 

An  American  clergyman  in  Berkeley,  Cal.,  actually  stated  that 
he  had  a  vision  in  which  the  German  Crown  Prince  appeared  to 
him,  mounted  on  a  white  horse  and  wearing  a  helmet,  and  carrying 
a  sword.  This  meant  that  the  Germans  would  win  the  war;  also 
that  an  angel  would  pass  through  and  destroy  those  persons  having 
flags  or  Eed  Cross  cards  in  their  windows. 

It  is  not  surprising,  however  regrettable,  that  in  this  same  city 
a  church  was  burned  to  the  ground  because  the  pastor  and  the 
elders  refused  to  permit  the  singing  of  the  National  Anthem. 

Two  other  typical  instances  of  pulpit  propaganda  by  American 
clergymen  may  be  cited  from  the  multitude  of  reports : 

The  pastor  of  a  church  at  Mount  View,  Mo.,  is  reported  by  a 
fellow  minister  as  having  said  in  a  sermon  that  “the  Red  Cross 
was  a  fake,  that  men  were  getting  rich  out  of  it;”  and  then,  as  if 
to  lend  a  semblance  of  truth  to  this  view,  added  “that  there  was 
a  lady  who  had  knitted  a  sweater  for  her  son  and  sewed  up  a  $20 
bill  in  the  side  pocket,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  she  saw  an 
acquaintance  wearing  the  sweater,  and  asking  permission  to  exam¬ 
ine  the  sweater,  found  the  money  in  it.” 

He  also  said  in  his  sermon  “It  was  an  outrage  to  send  our  boys 
across  the  water  to  be  butchered.” 

A  clerygman  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  during  a  sermon  delivered  on 
the  9th  of  June,  1918,  remarked  that  the  ruler  of  this  nation  was 
hellish  and  that  war  was  the  resuli?  of  the  hellish  machinery  that 
was  being  put  into  operation;  all  the  army  boys  that  got  killed 
would  go  to  hell.  lie  also  advised  his  hearers  not  to  obey  the  draft 
act,  for  war  was  literal  hell  and  that  Wilson  was  as  rotten  as  the 
Kaiser  is  represented  to  be.  He  also  maintained  that  he  would 
preach  this  doctrine  even  if  arrested  and  sentenced  to  prison  for 
twenty-one  years,  and  the  only  grace  that  he  would  ask  of  his  pro¬ 
secutors  would  be  an  extension  of  the  sentence  to  ninety-nine  years. 

The  sermons  of  the  Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes  have  been  elo¬ 
quent  appeals  for  peace  and  strong  denunciations  of  bloodshed  and 
war.  They  are  so  eloquent  that,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the 
Germans  have  paid  them  the  ironic  compliment  of  tying  them  to 
toy  balloons  and  floating  them  across  the  British  and  French  lines. 

It  is  perhaps  only  a  coincidence,  yet  a  striking  one,  that  the 
point  chosen  by  the  Germans  for  bombardment  by  the  Holmes 


C  o  ope  rati  n  g  A  gen  ci  cs 


103 


sermons  was  the  British  Fifth  Army.  The  sermons  were  scat¬ 
tered  March  9;  on  March  21  the  first  great  offensive  started,  and 
the  Fifth  Army  gave  way  with  disastrous  result  to  the  whole  line. 
Various  explanations  have  been  offered  for  the  collapse,  ranging 
from  the  thinness  of  the  line  to  the  flaccidity  of  its  morale.  In 
any  case  the  sermons  denouncing  all  resistance  as  vicious  must 
have  had  an  influence  that  cost  the  Allies  dearly  in  lives,  territory 
and  prestige. 

A  more  striking  proof  of  the  actual  influence  of  such  preach¬ 
ments  could  not  be  imagined.  They  have  no  effect  whatever  on  the 
enemy  that  started  the  war  and  wages  it  ruthlessly.  He  sends 
them  across  to  our  soldiers  in  the  hope  that  they  may  convert  a 
few  American  or  British  soldiers  into  abetting  the  further  con¬ 
quests  of  Germany. 

CONSCIENTIOUS  OBJECTORS  AND  "DIVINITY  STUDENTS  A 

“Beligious  opposition  to  war  represents  one  of  the  most  per¬ 
plexing  and  delicate  phases  of  the  whole  situation/’  according  to 
an  eminent  jurist.  “The  Selective  Service  Act  takes  the  individual 
conscience  into  account.  The  thing  that  is  unjustifiable  during 
the  war  is  the  organized  and  deliberate  creation  of  conscientious 
objection  that  did  not  genuinely  exist  before.” 

This  and  other  Governments  have  long  respected  the  tenets 
of  the  Friends  or  Quakers,  but  there  can  be  little  patience  with 
their  hasty  and  fraudulent  imitators.  The  book  relating  the  ex¬ 
periences  of  the  Quakers  who  persuaded  President  Lincoln  to 
exempt  this  society  from  the  draft,  has,  of  course,  been  reprinted 
as  a  form  of  propaganda  for  distribution  among  the  soldiers. 

From  Oberlin,  Ohio,  a  number  of  publications  have  viciously 
attacked  the  right  of  the  nation  to  compel  its  citizens  to  pay  military 
taxes  as  well  as  income,  revenue,  school  and  other  taxes. 

Mrs.  Catherine  Tingley,  head  of  the  Theosophical  Institute  at 
Point  Lorna,  Cal.,  was  interested  in  military  matters  until  our  entry 
into  the  war  and  the  passage  of  the  conscription  act.  Then  she 
visited  Washington  and  endeavored  to  get  her  adherents  exempted 
as  “divinity  students !” 

Many  such  efforts  to  scurry  to  cover  have  been  made  by  various 
sects  formed  or  adapted  for  the  purpose,  and  so-called  “conscientious 
objectors”  have  sprung  up  on  all  sides  to  dignify  their  cowardice  or 
their  anti-Americanism  bv  the  white-feather  name  of  conscience. 


104 


Propaganda 


To  yield  to  these  alleged  religious  objectors  would  be  a  reductia 
ad  absurdum.  This  country  reluctantly  passed  the  conscription 
act  because  it  felt  compelled  to  by  the  unfortunate  experiences  of 
England,  and  by  the  magnitude  of  the  crisis.  Conscription  is  gen¬ 
erally  recognized  as  the  fairest  method  of  managing  the  resources 
of  the  country. 

Now  that  the  conscription  act  is  law,  it  must  be  enforced;  for 
it  is  manifest  that  should  everybody  be  allowed  to  gain  exemption 
on  the  claim  of  conscientious  objection,  only  those  would  be  drafted 
whose  consciences  forbade  them  to  desert  their  country  in  her  time 
of  trial.  The  draft  law  might  as  well  not  have  been  passed,  there¬ 
fore,  since  it  would  bring  into  the  service  only  those  who  would 
have  volunteered  anyway. 

It  was  to  avoid  the  evils,  dangers  and  delays  of  the  volunteer- 
system  that  the  conscription  law  was  passed.  It  must  be  rigorously 
applied  and  those  whose  motto  is  “Conscience  Above  Country”  must 
be  taught  that  governments  can  not  be  run 'by  the  consciences 
of  individuals,  but  by  the  conscience  of  majorities  and  their  repre¬ 
sentatives. 

/'the  finished  mystery.” 

/ 

Under  this  strange  banner  a  group  of  strange  persons  have 
waged  a  peculiarly  vicious  war  by  propaganda,  and  compelled  the 
Government  to  prosecute  an  organization  wearing  the  innocent 
name  of  the  International  Bible  Students  Association. 

The  late  “Pastor”  Russell  had,  before  his  death,  secured  an 
enormous  following  for  the  doctrines  contained  in  his  sermons, 
which  were  at  one  time  published  in  as  many  as  four  thousand 
newspapers  simultaneously;  and  in  his  books,  of  which  it  is  said 
eleven  million  copies  were  sold.  His  books  were  called  “Keys  to  the 
Divine  Plan  of  the  Ages.”  He  wrote  six  volumes,  the  seventh  and 
final  remaining  unwritten  at  his  death.  He  left  the  sect  of  Rus- 
sellites  in  a  very  flourishing  condition  and  possessed  of  large  assets, 
not  the  least  of  which  was  a  great  market  for  another  volume  of  the 
Studies  of  Scripture.  A  Brooklyn  attorney,  J.  F.  Rutherford,  suc¬ 
ceeded  to  the  control  and  with  his  associates  put  forth  the  seventh 
volume  of  the  series,  under  the  name  of  “The  Finished  Mystery,” 
pretending  that  it  was  inspired,  if  not  written,  by  Pastor  Russell. 
In  this  book,  under  the  guise  of  religion,  they  inserted  a  vast 
amount  of  rabid  pacifism  and  made  vicious  attacks  on  the  present 


Cooperating  Agencies 


105 


Rutherford  and  the  others  were  not  content  with  selling  the 
volume  to  the  Russellites,  but  began  to  push  its  circulation  every¬ 
where,  especially  among  groups  of  soldiers.  So  eager  were  they 
for  the  spread  of  its  doctrine  that  when  the  book  was  declared  to 
be  in  violation  of  the  Espionage  Law  they  continued  its  distribu¬ 
tion. 

The  most  surreptitious  methods  were  adopted  to  circulate  this 
forbidden  writ;  slipping  it  into  the  mail  boxes  at  night,  sending 
it  in  carload  shipments  by  freight  to  a  given  point  with  covert 
instructions  to  agents  to  remail  it — matter  already  declared  in 
violation  of  the  Espionage  Law;  publishing  under  different  titles 
and  in  capsule  form  the  most  offensively  disloyal  poisons  of  propa¬ 
ganda  already  ordered  suppressed  by  the  Department  of  Justice; 
.instructing  its  Bureaus  to  make  use  of  this  same  seditious  stuff  in 
all  their  lectures,  because  they  would  be  immune  as  members  of  a 
religious  cult,  and  escape  the  punishment  surely  closing  in  on  them. 

This  sedition  is  contemptible  enough,  but  its  magnitude  and 
the  false  cant  with  which  it  appeals  to  devout  dupes,  gain  a  military 
importance  for  two  reasons :  First,  that  many  disciples  claim  exemp¬ 
tion  on  the  ground  of  their  religious  profession,  second,  that  the  book 
has  been  foisted  with  the  most  determined  persistence  and  cunning 
upon  men  already  in  uniform,  to  whom  it  could  only  be  meant  to 
appeal  as  an  argument  for  mutiny  and  desertion. 

“The  Finished  Mystery”  is  warmly  defended  by  The  Kingdom 
News,  a  periodical  issued  by  the  same  people  with  the  same  motives. 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  these  doctrines  as  doctrines,  it  is 
manifest  that  their  spread  at  this  time  has  only  one  influence — 
to  destroy  military  efficiency.  Russell’s  successor,  Rutherford, 
who  has  added  to  his  activity  as  a  publisher  the  busy  life  of  a 
lecturer  under  the  name  of  “ Judge  Rutherford  of  the  New  York 
Bar,”  was  finally  brought  to  the  bar. 

His  propaganda  had  been  strongly  supported  by  the  Germans, 
and  is  involved  in  the  disturbance  of  Italy,  where  the  so-called 
Onofrio  letter  was  widelv  distributed. 

The  following  account  (from  the  New  York  Times,  May  9, 
1918)  of  Rutherford  and  five  associates  gives  details  of  their 
activities : 


“Charged  with  spreading  doctrines  calculated  to  promote  un¬ 
rest  and  disloyalty  among  the  men  of  the  army  and  navy,  six 
leaders  of  the  International  Bible  Students  Association,  which 
was  founded  by  the  late  ‘Pastor*  Charles  T.  Russell,  were  arrested 


(5) 


9 


106 


Propaganda 

yesterday  afternoon  in  Brooklyn  by  United  States  Marshal  James 
M.  Power. 

“The  arrests  were  made  at  the  ‘Bethel,’  the  headquarters  of 
the  society,  at  122  Columbia  Heights,  and  among  the  men  taken 
into  custody  was  ex-Judge  Joseph  F.  Rutherford,  who  is  said 
to  be  the  successor  of  ‘Pastor’  Russell  as  the  head  of  the  organiza¬ 
tion.  The  sextette  were  saved  from  going  to  the  city  prison  for 
the  night  through  a  swift  real  estate  transaction,  by  which  one 
of  the  members  of  the  association  became  temporary  title  holder 
to  property  of  the  society,  enabling  him  to  give  bonds  for  the 
prisoners. 

“The  Federal  Grand  Jury  indictment,  under  which  Ruther¬ 
ford  and  his  associates  were  arrested,  charges  them  with  ‘un¬ 
lawfully  and  wilfully  conspiring  to  cause  insubordination,  disloy¬ 
alty  and  refusal  of  duty  of  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the 
United  States.’  When  arraigned  before  Judge  Garvin  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  the  accused  all  pleaded  not  guilty.  Besides 
Rutherford,  they  were  William  E.  Van  Amburgh,  A.  Hugh  Mc¬ 
Millan,  Robert  J.  Martin,  Frederick  H.  Robinson  and  Giovanni 
De  Cecca.  The  first  four  named  were  held  in  $5,000  bail  ea-ch,. 
and  the  other  two  in  $2,000  each. 

“There  are  four  counts  in  the  indictment,  all  charging  dis¬ 
loyalty.  Rutherford,  McMillan,  Van  Amburgh  and  Martin  are 
also  charged  with  having  sent  money  to  a  representative  of  the 
association  in  Germany.  These  funds,  $500,  deposited  in  the 
name  of  the  Watch  Tower  Bible  and  Tract  Society  in  the  Nassau 
National  Bank,  Manhattan,  are  said  to  have  been  withdrawn  on 
November  7  last  and  sent  by  draft  to  Barmen,  Germany,  through 
Zurich,  Switzerland. 

“The  indictment  was  based  largely  upon  matter  published  in 
the  Watch  Tower  and  Kingdom  News,  publications  issued  by  the 
society,  and  ‘The  Finished  Mystery,’  a  work  by  the  late  ‘Pastor’ 
Russell.  The  magazines  contain  letters  written  from  Italy  and 
having  to  do  with  the  trial  in  that  country  of  a  member  of  the 
International  Bible  Students  Association  for  making  defamatory 
remarks  about  military  service. 

“Through  their  activities  in  lending  encouragement  to  paci¬ 
fists  and  conscientious  objectors,  members  of  the  Russell  organi¬ 
zation  have  gotten  into  trouble  in  several  cities  in  this  country 
and  in  Toronto,  Canada.  Some  time  ago  representatives  of  the 
United  States  Government  visited  the  headquarters  in  Brooklyn 
and  took  away  copies  of  the  various  publications  of  the  society. 
On  Sunday,  April  29,  while  the  Russellites  were  holding  services 
in  their  tabernacle,  in  Hicks  street,  Brooklyn,  a  speaker  for  the 
Liberty  Loan  who  entered  was  refused  permission  to  address 
the  assemblage.  Later  members  of  the  police  reserve  visited  the 
temple  on  the  same  mission  and  received  a  like  reception.  As  the 
Russellites  filed  out  of  the  tabernacle  the  loan  boosters  pleaded 
with  them  to  purchase  bonds,  but  to  no  purpose.  Some  days  later 
it  was  announced  that  eighteen  members  *at  the  Bethel  had  sub¬ 
scribed  for  bonds.  Mr.  Rutherford,  the  head  of  the  Society,  has  re¬ 
peatedly  denied  that  the  association  had  ever  attempted  to  spread 
German  propaganda.  Leaves  from  the  May  number  of  the  King¬ 
dom  Neios ,  which  have  been  distributed  by  hand  in  Brooklyn  in 
the  last  few  days,  contain  a  severe  denunciation  of  the  ‘autocratic 
Kaiser’  and  his  ‘blood-thirsty  hordes.’ 

“It  was  said  by  former  members  of  the  Bible  Association,  the 
Watch  Tower  and  Tract  Society  and  other  organizations  founded 


Cooperating  Agencies 


107 


by  the  late  ‘Pastor’  Russell  that  many  members  had  withdrawn 
their  membership  after  the  death  of  the  first  leader,  because 
they  disapproved  the  methods  and  the  management  of  some  of 
the  new  officers.  An  antagonism  toward  the  new  leader  began 
immediately  after  his  selection,  and  it  was  said  that  much  of 
the  dissatisfaction  was  caused  by  the  methods  of  the  election 
and  of  a  campaign  preceding  the  choice  of  a  ‘pastor.’  It  was 
said  that  in  the  last  few  years,  and  particularly  since  the  death  of 
‘Pastor’  Russell,  the  aims  and  ideals  of  the  associations  had  been 
changed  so  completely  that  many  persons  who  supported  the 
tenets  of  the  first  leader  found  themselves  completely  out  of  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  movement.  This  split  in  opinion,  it  was  said,  also 
caused  a  great  decrease  in  the  congregation  at  the  Brooklyn 
Tabernacle,  where  ‘Pastor’  Russell  delivered  most  of  his  ser¬ 
mons.” 

One  of  the  developments  of  the  trial  was  the  indictment  of 
the  secretary  of  the  Watch  Tower  and  Bible  Tract  Society  for 
perjury  and  his  committal  to  jail  for  contempt  of  court  because 
he  stated  that  he  could  not  identify  the  writing  of  a  fellow  defen¬ 
dant  who  had  a  desk  a  few  feet  away  from  him  for  eighteen  months. 

‘‘Testifying  that  he  ‘would  have  been  one  of  the  first  men  in 
the  country  to  volunteer’  if  he  had  not  been  a  ‘consecrated  Chris¬ 
tian,’  Joseph  F.  Rutherford  defined  his  position  on  the  war  on  the 
witness  stand. 

“  ‘My  ambition  when  a  boy  was  always  to  be  a  soldier,’  Mr. 
Rutherford  said,  ‘but  one  cannot  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  and  take 
human  life.  I  have  never  been  in  opposition  to  the  draft,  because 
the  draft  was  covered  by  an  act  of  Congress,  and  I  think  we 
ought  to  obey  the  law.  I  am  opposed  to  war  for  consecrated 
Christians,  however.’ 

“Rutherford  testified  also  that  the  1,800  war  affidavits  sent  out 
by  William  E.  Van  Amburgh,  treasurer  of  the  Watch  Tower  Bible 
and  Tract  Society,  were  intended  only  to  establish  the  fact  that 
the  International  Bible  Students  Association  was  a  religious  or¬ 
ganization. 

“  ‘We  did  not  take  time  to  investigate  the  requests  that  came 
to  our  office  for  these  affidavits,’  said  Rutherford,  who  is  president 
of  the  Watch  Tower,  ‘because  they  merely  represent  the  position  of 
our  organization  on  the  question  of  war.  The  mere  possession 
of  one  of  our  affidavits  would  not  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  the 
holder  was  a  member  of  our  society  and  therefore  entitled  to 
exemption  on  the  ground  of  religious  objection.  The  affidavits 
were  printed  to  assist  local  boards  to  classify  men  properly.’ 

“Federal  Judge  Harland  B.  Howe  made  a  ruling  that  settled 
conclusively  the  question  of  defense  on  religious  grounds. 

“  ‘The  Constitution  only  protects  a  man’s  religious  beliefs,’  said 
the  judge  in  answer  to  a  statement  of  the  counsel  for  the  defense 
that  ‘the  Constitution  guarantees  religious  freedom.’ 

“  ‘Ignorance  of  the  law  is  no  excuse  and  religious  belief  is  no 
defense  to  crime.  This  will  be  the  rule  of  the  court  when  charg¬ 
ing  the  jury.’ 

“The  result  of  the  trial  was  the  conviction  of  all  the  de1 

•  fendants.  Seven  of  the  eight  were  sentenced  by  the  judge 

*  to  serve  twenty  years  in  prison  on  each  of  the  four  counts 


108 


Propaganda 


in  the  indictment  against  them.  This  would  make  a  term  of 
eighty  years  in  all  for  each  convict,  but  the  judge  decided  that 
the  sentence  might  run  concurrently,  so  that  the  prisoners  can 
look  forward  to  their  release  as  if  they  had  been  sentenced  to  but 
one  term  of  twenty  years. 

“Of  the  eighth  man  convicted,  Giovanni  De  Cecca,  director  of 
the  translation  of  the  works  of  the  Russellite  organization  into 
the  Italian  language,  Judge  Howe  said  he  would  defer  sentence 
for  further  consideration,  as  the  court  desired  to  have  his  pre¬ 
vious  career  investigated. 

“  ‘In  the  opinion  of  the  court,’  said  Judge  Howe,  ‘the  religious 
propaganda  which  these  defendants  have  vigorously  advocated 
and  spread  throughout  the  nation,  as  well  as  among  our  allies,  is 
a  greater  danger  than  a  division  of  the  German  Army.  If  they 
had  taken  guns  and  swords  and  joined  the  German  Army  the 
harm  they  could  have  done  would  have  been  insignificant  com¬ 
pared  with  the  results  of  their  propaganda.  A  person  preaching 
religion  usually  has  much  influence,  and  if  he  is  sincere  he  is  all 
the  more  effective.  This  aggravates  rather  than  mitigates  the 
wrong  they  have  done.  Therefore,  as  the  only  prudent  thing  to 
do  with  such  persons,  the  court  has  concluded  that  the  punish¬ 
ment  should  be  severe.  The  sentence  is  that  the  defendants  serve 
a  term  of  twenty  years  in  the  Federal  penitentiary  at  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  on  each  of  the  four  counts  of  the  indictment,  but  that  the 
sentences  commence  and  run  concurrently,  and  that  they  stand 
committed  until  the  sentence  is  complied  with.’ 

“Turning  to  ex-Judge  Oeland,  the  special  United  States  prose¬ 
cutor,  and  referring  to  the  eight  convicted  Russellites,  Judge 
Howe  said: 

“  ‘They  are  worse  than  traitors.  You  can  catch  a  traitor  and 
know  what  he  is  about.  But  you  cannot  catch  a  man  who  does 
what  they  did  under  the  guise  of  religion.” 

There  is  a  special  reason  for  taking  such  persons  in  hand  legally. 
Not  only  must  the  people  be  protected  from  them,  but  they  must  be 
protected  from  the  people,  who  will  take  measures  of  their  own  if 
the  law  does  not  proceed.  On  April  22,  at  Pendleton,  Ore.,  a 
Russellite  named  Metz  was  saved  with  difficulty  from  being  lynched 
for  circulating  pamphlets  in  defense  of  “The  Finished  Mystery.” 
His  case  and  many  others  revealed  a  concerted  move  on  the  part  of 
the  International  Bible  Students  Association  to  flood  the  country 
from  Texas  to  the  Pacific  Coast  simultaneously  with  circulars. 

Propaganda  by  religion  is  peculiarly  dangerous  because  it  mas¬ 
querades  in  the  holiest  vestments  and  it  subjects  those  who  would 
expose  it  and  punish  it  to  the  easy  charge  of  sacrilege. 

Efforts  have  been  made  to  extend  tolerance  to  those  who  have 
genuine  religious  convictions  against  war,  by  offering  them  non- 
combatant  service,  such  as  the  Quakers  have  been  usually  willing  to 
perform.  But  there  have  been  numbers  of  drafted  men  who  have 
refused  to  wear  the  uniform  at  all  or  to  obey  any  commands.  If 
they  were  not  dealt  with  rigorously  the  whole  principle  of  universal 


Cooperating  Agencies 


109 


service  would  fall  to  the  ground.  It  has  gone  hard  with  those  who 
have  been  led  to  reject  the  Government’s  tender  of  peaceful  tasks. 

On  June  10,  in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  a  court-martial  imposed 
sentences  of  life  imprisonment  upon  forty-five  conscientious  ob¬ 
jectors  who  had  refused  to  wear  army  uniforms.  The  sentence 
was  reduced  to  twenty-five  years  each  by  Brigadier  General  J.  P. 
O’Neil,  who  reviewed  the  records.  The  men  are  nearly  all  from 

Oklahoma  and  members  of  the  Mennonite  faith.  Some  of  the  Men- 

• 

nonites  have  refused  to  bear  arms  but  donned  the  uniform  and 
accepted  work  in  non-combatant  units.  The  men  who  were  tried 
refused  to  put  on  the  uniform  and  refused  to  work  in  any  capacity 
connected  with  the  army.  And  more  than  this,  they  were  trying 
to  do  missionary  work  among  men  who  were  not  conscientious 
objectors. 

They  were  doubtless  moved  to  the  latter  course  by  persons  who 
informed  men  “whose  rights  were  being  invaded”  that  there  was 
a  lawyer  in  a  nearby  town  who  would  take  up  their  cause.  The 
men  in  the  camps  probably  were  emboldened  by  the  support  which 
they  were  getting  from  pacifist  and  pro-German  societies,  and  so 
they  took  the  course  which  led  to  their  undoing. 

The  activities  of  these  pacifist  and  pro-German  organizations, 
especially  their  “literary”  activities,  were  early  called  to  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  Intelligence  Officers  in  the  camps.  The  aim  of  these 
societies  was  not  so  much  to  help  conscientious  objectors  as  to 
weaken  the  army,  a  fact  proved  virtually  conclusively  by  the  ascer¬ 
tained  knowledge  that  the  American  Civil  Rights  Bureau  and  an¬ 
other  organization  or  two  are  simply  children  of  the  parent  organ¬ 
ization,  The  American  Union  Against  Militarism.  The  connection 
between  these  organizations  and  the  conscientious  objectors  in  the 
camps  was  established  definitely.  It  was  shown  almost  beyond 
peradventure  that  the  result  of  the  activities  of  these  societies  would 
be  an  effort  on  the  part  of  men  who  received  their  communications  to 
attempt  to  influence  non-conscientious  objectors.  The  final  court- 
martial  action  was  the  logical  conclusion  of  the  efforts  of  certain 
organizations  and  certain  men  to  hurt  the  cause  of  the  United 
States  and  help  that  of  the  Germans. 

PHILANTHROPIC  SLACKERS. 

Hardly  less  dangerous  are  certain  organizations  which,  while 
claiming  no  religious  authority,  do  assume  to  be,  and  often  are, 


110 


Propaganda 


actuated  by  the  noblest  motives  of  philanthropy,  of  universal  broth¬ 
erhood,  of  internationalism  and  of  the  beauty  of  peace. 

In  the  first  place  their  benevolence  is  shared  by  a  far  larger 
number  of  people  than  they  seem  able  to  imagine.  The  fiercest 
warriors  are  quite  as  likely  to  hate  war  as  the  most  white-livered 
non-resistants.  The  best  soldiers  are  generally  those  who  fight 
with  regret  for  causes  more  sacred  than  peace  or  comfort,  or  life 
il^elf.  Just  as  tender-hearted  philanthropists  are  found  among 
the  soldiers,  among  the  stretcher-bearers,  the  surgeons,  the  Red 
Cross  and  the  charity  organizations,  as  among  the  believers  in  peace 
at  all  costs. 

Before  a  nation  enters  war,  especially  a  free  nation  like  ours, 
there  must  be  a  great  enthusiasm  among  a  fair  majority.  Once 
the  nation  is  committed  to  war,  anything  that  hinders  its  complete 
efficiency  has  one  of  two  effects:  It  delays  the  final  victory  at  enor¬ 
mous  cost  of  bloodshed  and  treasure,  or  it  helps  to  a  defeat  with  all 
that  means  of  wasted  life  and  ruined  liberty. 

Viewed  in  this  light  these  hostile  philanthropists  are  seen  to 
be  less  high-minded.  They  are  found  to  be  stubborn,  bigoted, 
ruthless  to  those  who  oppose  them;  sticklers  for  lesser  privileges 
and  chiefly  anxious  about  the  welfare  of  the  enemy  and  of  their 
fellow  slackers.  Worse  yet,  they  become  the  facile  tools  of  the 
enemy’s  agents  and  propagandists.  They  ally  themselves  with  the 
most  vicious  enemy  and  their  success  is  his. 

They  make  a  special  effort  to  spread  their  doctrines  among  our 
soldiers,  and  our  camps  are  under  an  incessant  bombardment  of 
pamphlets,  circulars,  books,  periodicals,  letters.  Any  soldier  whom 
they  win  over  becomes  a  disease-carrier  and  spreads  the  poison. 

In  the  face  of  the  German  Government’s  menace  to  civilization 
these  people  plead  with  Americans  to  defy  their  own  government 
and  defend  the  sacrosanctity  of  such  rights  as  they  would  have  in 
times  of  bucolic  peace.  They  cry  aloud  that  the  one  danger  to 
civilization  is  that  Americans  should  attempt  to  defend  it,  or  ask 
any  sacrifice  in  its  name. 

Persons  who  despised  and  denounced  the  Constitution  before 
the  war  now  point  to  it  as  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant.  While  the 
ship  is  driven  toward  the  rocks  they  implore  the  sailors  not  to  obey 
the  Captain.  In  the  name  of  liberty  they  call  for  mutiny. 

One  example  among  thousands  is  a  circular  for  which  five  per¬ 
sons  were  tried  under  the  Espionage  Act  in  Philadelphia  in  June, 
1917.  A  few  excerpts  are  characteristic : 


Cooperating  Agencies 


111 


LONG  LIVE  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

WAKE  UP,  AMERICA,  YOUR  LIBERTIES  ARE  IN  DANGER. 

“The  thirteenth  amendment,  section  1,  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  says:  ‘Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servi¬ 
tude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or 
any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction.’ 

“The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  the  greatest 
bulwarks  of  political  liberty.  It  was  born  after  a  long,  stubborn 
battle  between  king  rule  and  democracy.  We  see  little  or  no  dif¬ 
ference  between  arbitrary  power  under  the  name  of  a  king  and  under 
a  few  misnamed  ‘representatives.’  In  this  battle  the  people  of 
the  United  States  established  the  principle  that  freedom  of  the 
individual  and  personal  liberty  are  the  most  sacred  things  in 
life.  Without  them  we  become  slaves. 

“For  this  principle  the  fathers  fought  and  died.  The  estab¬ 
lishment  of  this  principle  they  sealed  with  their  own  blood.  Do 
you  want  to  see  this  principle  abolished?  Do  you  want  to  see 
despotism  substituted  in  its  stead?  Shall  we  prove  degenerate 
sons  of  illustrious  sires? 

“A  conscript  is  little  better  than  a  convict.  He  is  deprived  of 
his  liberty  and  of  his  right  to  think  and  act  as  a  free  man.  A 
conscripted  citizen  is  forced  to  surrender  his  right  as  a  citizen  and 
become  a  subject.  He  is  forced  into  involuntary  servitude.  He 
is  deprived  of  the  protection  given  him  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  He  is  deprived  of  all  freedom  of  conscience 
in  being  forced  to  kill  against  his  will. 

“Are  you  one  who  is  opposed  to  war  and  were  you  misled  by 
the  venal  capitalist  newspapers,  or  intimidated  or  deceived  by 
gang  politicians  and  registrars  into  believing  that  you  would 
not  be  allowed  to  register  your  objection  to  conscription?  Do 
you  know  that  many  citizens  of  Philadelphia  insisted  on  their 
right  to  answer  the  famous  question  12  and  went  on  record  with 
their  honest  opinion  of  opposition  to  war,  notwithstanding  the 
deceitful  efforts  of  our  rulers  and  the  newspaper  press  to  prevent 
them  from  doing  so?  Shall  it  be  said  that  the  citizens  of  Phila¬ 
delphia,  the  cradle  of  American  liberty,  are  so  lost  to  a  sense  of 
right  and  justice  that  they  will  let  such  monstrous  wrongs 
against  humanity  go  unchallenged? 

“Do  you  want  to  see  unlimited  power  handed  over  to  Wall 
Street’s  chosen  few  in  America? 

“Write  to  your  Congressman  and  tell  him  you  want  the  law 
repealed.  Do  not  submit  to  intimidation. 

“Help  us  wipe  out  this  stain  upon  the  Constitution. 

“Help  us  re-establish  democracy  in  America. 

“Remember,  ‘eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty.’ 

“Down  with  autocracy. 

“Long  live  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Long  live 
the  Republic. 

“In  lending  tacit  or  silent  consent  to  the  conscription  law,  in 
neglecting  to  assert  your  rights,  you  are  (whether  unknowingly 
or  not)  helping  to  condone  and  support  a  most  infamous  and  in¬ 
sidious  conspiracy  to  abridge  and  destroy  the  sacred  and  cher¬ 
ished  rights  of  a  free  people.  You  are  a  citizen,  not  a  subject. 
You  delegate  your  power  to  the  officers  of  the  law  to  be  used  for 
your  good  and  welfare,  not  against  you. 

“Will  you  stand  idly  by  and  see  the  moloch  of  militarism 


112 


Propaganda 


reach  forth  across  the  sea  and  fasten  its  tentacles  upon  this  con¬ 
tinent?  Are  you  willing  to  submit  to  the  degradation  of  having 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  treated  as  a  ‘mere  scrap  of 
paper?’ 

“Do  you  know  that  patriotism  means  a  love  for  your  country 
and  not  hate  for  others?  Will  you  be  led  astray  by  a  propa¬ 
ganda  of  jingoism  masquerading  under  the  guise  of  patriotism? 

“In  the  world  crisis  where  do  you  stand?  Are  you  with  the 
forces  of  liberty  and  light  or  war  and  darkness?” 

It  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the  accountable  authors  of  this 
hysterical  outburst  wear  German  names.  The  infamous  pretences 
that  this  is  a  Wall  Street  war,  an  insidious  trick  to  filch  the  people’s 
liberties  away,  a  step  toward  reducing  the  republic  to  slavery,  are 
intolerable.  Their  influence  on  the  minds  of  soldiers  homesick 
and  weary  of  camp  drudgery  is  hazardous  and  the  cloven  hoof  of 
the  propagandist  is  always  revealed,  for  the  defendants  in  this  case, 
as  in  most  of  the  others,  were  found  to  have  included  in  their  pro¬ 
ceedings  an  appropriation  for  the  printing  and  mailing  of  these 
circulars  to  “men  who  have  passed  the  exemption  board.”  The 
plain  purpose  was  to  cause  “insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny, 
refusal  to  obey  orders  or  forcible  resistance  to  the  recruiting  and 
enlistment  service.” 

Similar  documents  are  issued  by  the  so-called  “intellectuals,” 
who  profess  a  mentality  superior  not  only  to  the  emotions  of  patri¬ 
otism  but  even  to  the  necessity  for  a  defense  of  democratic  liberties. 

Furthermore  these  persons  by  organizing  and  proselytizing 
draw  to  themselves  people  of  no  such  spiritual  character,  who  find 
them  a  convenience.  They  speedily  degenerate  into  common  scolds 
and  general  nuisances.  They  use  up  public  time  and  energy  and 
keep  throwing  “sand  in  the  gear  box.” 

If  they  are  not  fanatic  they  will  consent  to  postpone  their 
ambitious  projects  until  the  country  has  freed  itself  from  its 
perilous  embarrassments.  If  they  are  fanatic,  they  should  be 
treated  as  other  madmen  are,  with  gentle  but  perfect  restraint. 

The  final  reasons  for  their  suppression  are  that  it  is  impos¬ 
sible  for  the  overworked  public  officials  to  discriminate  between 
them  and  the  counterfeit  organizations  of  the  enemy;  that  it  is 
impossible  to  pause  to  separate  the  too  virtuous  from  the  vicious; 
and  that  they  are  altogether  too  warmly  supported  by  the  partisans 
of  our  enemy. 

The  danger  of  giving  tolerance  to  these  movements  is  well  empha¬ 
sized  in  the  following  editorial  in  the  New  York  Times  of  May  1, 
1918,  based  upon  the  Bonnet  Rouge  affair  already  discussed: 


Cooperating  Agencies 


113 


“There  is  a  warning  for  Americans  in  the  story  of  the  Bonn'et 
Rouge  treason,  and  in  the  ramifications  of  it.  France  was  pois¬ 
oned  with  pacifist  propaganda  conducted  through  newspapers, 
which  preached  the  horrors  of  war  and  the  desirability  of  nego¬ 
tiating  a  peace  with  Germany.  These  papers  were  circulated 
not  only  among  civilians  but  among  soldiers — especially  among 
soldiers.  They  bore  an  appearance  of  good  faith,  and  they  had 
patriotic  names  and  were  blatantly  pretenses  of  patriotism;  but 
always  there  was  the  subtle  suggestion  which  was  intended  to 
do  the  poisonous  work.  Probably  there  were  many  honest 
Frenchmen  who  said:  ‘Of  course  these  men  are  wrong,  but  no 
doubt  they  are  sincere  and  every  man  is  entitled  to  his  opinion.' 

“But  they  were  not  sincere.  They  were  actually  in  the  pay 
of  Germany.  The  first  proof  came  in  the  arrest  of  Duval,  the 
business  manager  of  one  of  these  newspapers,  on  his  way  back 
from  Switzerland  with  a  check  for  over  $30,000.  This  and  many 
other  checks  he  had  received  from  a  German  banker  named  Marx 
for  the  purpose  of  paralyzing  French  efficiency  with  his  sancti¬ 
monious  talk  of  peace,  and  Marx  was  the  agent  of  the  German 
Government  which  paid  Duval's  newspaper  alone  more  than 
$200,000. 

“These  methods  are  peculiarly  suggestive  of  the  methods  of 
Americans  who  have  been  doing  the  same  kind  of  work  on  this 
side  of  the  water.  The  method  is  to  excite  distrust  of  France’s 
allies,  to  harp  on  the  old  national  grudges.  It  is  the  same 
method  which  was  used  in  Italy  last  year  with  such  success 
as  to  bring  about  the  defeat  of  Cadorna’s  army.  If  any  Americans 
can  read  this  story  without  seeing  the  close  similarity  of  what 
went  on  in  France  last  year  to  what  has  been  going  on  in  Amer¬ 
ica  without  hindrance  ever  since  the  war  began,  they  must  be 
singularly  lacking  in  the  ability  to  draw  obvious  conclusions.” 

PROPAGANDA  AMONG  THE  LABOR  ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  military  importance  of  labor  is  self-evident.  Without  an 
enormous,  incessant  and  reliable  manufacture  of  ships,  munitions, 
equipment,  uniforms  and  supplies  of  every  sort,  it  is  impossible  to 
maintain  an  army  abroad  at  all.  On  the  extent  and  steadiness  of 
the  labor  element  the  success  of  the  armies  is  dependent. 

In  general,  the  laborers,  both  organized  and  unorganized,  have 
given  magnificent  support  to  the  cause,  and  have  generally  post¬ 
poned  their  problems  till  after  the  war,  except  in  certain  instances 
where  the  great  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  has  compelled  some 
wage  adjustments. 

There  have  been,  however,  among  laborers  as  among  all  other 
classes,  certain  individuals  and  certain  factions  that  have  refused 
to  subordinate  their  ideals  or  their  theories  to  the  general  emer¬ 
gency. 

The  most  conspicuous  instance  of  this  has  been  the  Inde¬ 
pendent  Workers  of  the  World.  Investigation  has  shown  that  this 
organization  has  much  to  be  said  in  its  justification  and  that  its 
opponents  have  often  been  guilty  of  brutality,  indifference,  and 


114 


Propaganda 


contempt  of  both  law  and  humanity.  The  Department  of  Justice 
has  prosecuted  those  persons  in  Arizona  who  carried  out  the  forcible 
deportation  of  I.  W.  W.  members  and  it  is  of  the  utmost  import¬ 
ance  that  the  present  emergency  should  not  be  manipulated  as  an 
excuse  for  oppression  or  reaction.  The  profiteer  and  the  tyrant 
are  also  enemies  of  the  country  and  are  not  above  slandering  the 
better  elements  of  the  I.  W.  W. 

The  I.  W.  W.  is  made  up  of  human  beings  of  various  sorts  and 
is  neither  so  noble  as  its  sponsors  pretend,  nor  so  vile  as  its  oppo¬ 
nents  maintain.  Great  and  laborious  accomplishment  are  to  be 
credited  to  some  of  its  members,  but  others  have  undoubtedly 
devoted  themselves  to  evil  works.  The  proof  is  overwhelming  that 
many  of  the  leaders  are  men  of  the  most  hopeless  anarchism  to¬ 
ward  all  manner  of  government;  that  they  have  allied  themselves 
with  the  irreconcilables  of  every  sort  from  the  literary  dreamers 
to  the  illiterate  vagrants,  that  they  have  advocated  not  only  resist¬ 
ance  to  the  most  liberal  shop  rules,  but  destruction  in  the  most 
heinous  forms. 

The  much  advertised  creed  of  sabotage  justifies  not  merely  the 
neglect  of  the  tasks  for  which  men  are  paid,  but  the  ruination 
of  machinery  and  the  destruction  of  shops  even  at  the  risk  of  the 
lives  of  fellow  workers.  Some  of  them  carry  their  gospel  of  hatred 
so  far  that  they  advise  their  members  to  burn  their  blankets,  empty 
sugar  bowls  into  coffee  and  trample  bread  into  the  ground  in  the 
pure  love  of  mischief.  In  Charleston,  S.  C.,  June  11,  1918,  a 
16-vear-old  boy  of  German  extraction  was  found  guilty  of  placing 
bits  of  nails  in  a  pneumatic  drill.  He  was  sentenced  to  four  years 
in  the  National  Training  School  for  Boys. 

Some  of  the  I.  W.  W.  indulge  in  the  most  wholesale  denuncia¬ 
tions  of  every  form  of  human  society,  and  denounce  this  republic 
as  a  tyranny  worse  than  any  other.  A  few  of  them  include  the 
Kaiser  amongst  their  diatribes,  but  others  cordially  wish  him 
success.  It  is  certain  that  the  pro-German  elements  have  found 
the  I.  W.  W.  an  instrument  made  to  their  hand  and  have  wielded  it 
with  disastrous  effect  upon  the  output  of  the  forests,  the  farms, 
the  mines,  and  the  factories,  and  upon  the  transportation  systems. 

Our  Government  is  of  the  people,  by  and  for  the  people,  a  Gov¬ 
ernment  of  majorities  with  many  checks  upon  their  tyranny  over 
the  minority.  The  logical  and  convenient  method  for  changing 
any  social  detail  is  to  persuade  the  majority.  As  soon  as  the  ma¬ 
jority  is  convinced,  the  change  is  easily  made.  As  long  as  the  ma- 


Cooperating  Agencies  115 

jority  is  opposed  to  an  innovation,  the  effort  to  force  it  on  the  public 
by  violence  or  by  underhanded  methods  is  an  effort  against  free¬ 
dom  and  not  for  it.  The  I.  W.  W.  presents  therefore  a  dilemma 
and  a  contradiction  in  its  own  terms. 

Among  its  membership  perhaps  the  majority  are  innocent  of 
treason  in  any  form,  but  all  too  many  have  made  a  ruthless  effort 
to  defame  the  spirit  and  paralyze  the  military  power  of  the  nation 
in  this  war.  Many  who  are  not  downright  well-wishers  of  Ger¬ 
many  are  such  ill-wishers  to  this  republic  that  they  amount  to 
allies  of  our  enemies. 

ANARCHIST  PROPAGANDA. 

American  citizens  generally  believe  that  the  United  States  is 
a  free  country,  and  that  whenever  its  restrictions  prove  irksome, 
they  can  be  removed  by  the  people  themselves  acting  along  certain 
well-established  lines  of  procedure. 

But  there  are  many  persons  and  groups  of  persons  who  are  not 
satisfied  with  democratic  institutions  or  with  the  means  for  modify¬ 
ing  them.  These  persons  believe,  or  at  least  assert,  that  the  United 
States  Government  is  a  despotism  that  must  be  destroyed.  They 
said  it  before  the  war.  They  say  it  with  even  more  violence  now 
that  the  Government  had  to  subject  the  people  to  some  of  the  rigors 
of  war  in  order  to  protect  its  liberties. 

The  Anarchists  denounce  this  republic  in  the  same  terms  they 
used  against  the  Czardom  of  Russia  at  its  absolute  height. 
They  would  cheerfully  destroy  all  authority  in  this  Government, 
even  though  the  result  might  be  the  substitution  of  a  German 
autocracy  for  the  present  democracy ;  even  though  they  have  before 
them  the  terrible  example  of  Russia  under  the  heel  of  Germany 
as  a  result  of  the  relaxation  of  its  discipline. 

Their  object  is  to  undermine  this  Government  by  any  means. 
They  succeed  somehow  in  securing  funds  for  the  publication  of 
propaganda  and  in  finding  agencies  to  distribute  it  broadcast. 
Many  Anarchistic  publications  are  issued  throughout  the  world. 
In  the  United  States  they  are  issued  surreptitiously  in  many  lan¬ 
guages.  Their  violent  words  go  hand  in  hand  with  violent  deeds, 
destruction,  death  and  terrorism. 

Numerous  headquarters  have  been  raided  and  many  publica¬ 
tions  seized,  but  their  activity  does  not  cease  and  they  continue  to 
seek  and  to  find  ways  to  evade  the  postal  laws  and  the  recent  agree¬ 
ment  of  the  express  companies  to  carry  nothing  forbidden  in  the 
,  mails. 


116 


Propaganda 


The  latest  example  of  Anarchist  publications  was  disclosed  in 
the  newspapers  of  May  15,  1918,  from  which  is  quoted  the  following 
account  of  the  capture  of  unusually  ambitious  propaganda: 

“A  nation-wide  anarchist  plot,  the  purpose  of  which  was  se¬ 
cret  agitation  in  all  parts  of  the  country  against  the  United 
States  Government  and  the  spreading  of  Bolshevist  propaganda 
was  frustrated  yesterday  when  the  police,  following  an  investi¬ 
gation  that  has  been  under  way  several  weeks,  arrested  Ivan 
Novikoff,  a  Russian  writer,  who  is  said  to  be  employed  by  the 
Nova  Mir,  the  paper  with  which  Leon  Trotsky  was  connected 
when  in  this  country;  Leon  Bobkin,  and  Alexander  Burkach. 

“The  new  anarchist  group,  which  is  of  Russian  origin,  wants 
to  spread  its  propaganda  through  the  secret  circulation  of  a 
monthly  magazine  called  Kolokol,  which  in  English  means  The 
Bell.  The  first  issue  of  this  paper  was  printed  last  week,  and 
more  than  30,000  copies  are  said  to  have  been  ready  for  dis¬ 
tribution  by  express  and  messenger  to  Chicago,  Boston,  and 
other  cities. 

“Many  other  arrests,  it  was  said,  would  probably  follow,  the 
authorities  being  in  possession  of  the  names  of  several  thousand 
persons  in  various  parts  of  the  country  who  are  believed  to  be 
active  sympathizers  and  supporters  of  the  new  group.  The  men 
under  arrest  will  be  turned  over  to  the  Federal  authorities  this 
morning.  They  are  held  at  Police  Headquarters  charged  with 
entering  into  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  said  last  night  that  this  may  prove  to 
be  a  case  that  will  call  forth  the  most  drastic  action  permitted 
by  law. 

“In  the  basement  of  the  building  occupied  by  the  Russian 
paper  Nova  Mir,  at  113  East  Tenth  Street,  Lieutenant  George 
Busbee  of  the  Bomb  Squad,  who  directed  the  investigation,  found 
3,000  copies  of  Kolokol.  David  Goldfield,  editor  of  Nova  Mir, 
was  summoned  to  police  headquarters  yesterday  afternoon  and 
examined  at  length  by  Lieutenant  Busbee  and  agents  of  the 
Federal  Government. 

“  ‘We  have  information,’  said  Lieutenant  Busbee,  ‘that  Novi¬ 
koff,  Durkach,  and  other  anarchists  have  been  conspiring  to  start 
an  agitation  in  the  United  States,  the  brazen  purpose  of  which 
was  nothing  less  than  the  overthrow  of  our  Government  and 
the  establishment  of  a  reign  of  terror.  Of  course,  they  never 
had  a  chance,  even  if  the  conspiracy  had  not  been  nipped 
before  it  could  even  get  started.  We  have  a  long  list  of  per¬ 
sons  who  have  given  financial  support  to  the  movement,  the 
money  being  contributed  to  pay  for  distributing  anti-American 
propaganda  throughout  the  country.  The  man  Novikoff  edited 
the  first  issue  of  the  paper,  while  Durkach  was  intrusted  with 
the  work  of  getting  the  financial  backing.  Bobkin  appears  to 
have  been  a  more  or  less  ignorant  tool  of  the  other  two.’ 

“To  circulate  the  paper  the  anarchists  packed  the  copies  in 
boxes  which  were  labeled  as  containing  canned  goods,  lemons, 
and  dried  fruits.  Several  of  these  boxes  were  taken  to  ex¬ 
press  offices,  where  they  were  seized  by  the  police. 

“Lieutenant  Busbee  said  the  arrests  were  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  since  the  taking  of  Emma  Goldman  and  Alexander  Berk- 
man,  both  of  whom  are  followers  of  the  Russian  anarchistic 
group,  and  both  of  whom  are  now  serving  terms  in  Federal  prisons. 

“  ‘The  evidence  shows,’  said  an  agent  of  the  Department  of 


Cooperating  Agencies 


117 


Justice,  after  he  had  glanced  over  a  copy  of  Kolokol,  ‘that  a 
more  dangerous  group  of  anarchists  has  never  operated  in  this 
country.  This  propaganda  not  only  calls  for  the  overthrow  of 
our  Government,  but  it  also  seeks  to  poison  the  very  souls  of 
the  people.  For  instance,  one  of  its  objects  is  to  create  dis¬ 
sension  among  the  working  people  and  to  hold  up  Government 
war  work  through  a  campaign  to  keep  men  from  working  over¬ 
time  and  to  bring  about  strikes  not  only  in  private  but  in 
Government  works  as  well.  There  are  a  great  many  Russians, 
employed  in  shipyards  and  munition  plants,  and  should  those 
men  refuse  to  work  overtime  you  can  easily  imagine  what  it 
would  mean  to  our  ship  program  and  other  war  efforts.’ 

“Some  of  the  cities  which  the  new  group  selected  as  propa¬ 
ganda  centers  were  Cleveland,  the  center  of  the  Great  Lakes 
shipping  industry;  Detroit,  the  center  of  the  automobile  indus¬ 
try,  and  also  one  of  the  principal  centers  for  the  production  of 
airplanes;  Pittsburgh,  in  the  steel  area:  Wilkesbarre  and  other 
coal  centers;  San  Francisco,  Tacoma,  Baltimore,  Boston,  Phila¬ 
delphia,  and  scores  of  other  leading  cities  in  every  part  of 
the  country. 

“The  first  page  of  the  first  issue  of  Kolokol  bears  the  offi¬ 
cial  motto  of  the  group,  which  is  taken  from  the  writings  of 
the  Russian  anarchist,  Bakunin,  and  which  when  translated 
into  English  reads: 

“  ‘The  spirit  of  destruction  is  the  spirit  of  reconstruction.’ 

“An  editorial  on  the  second  page  says  that  ‘This  paper  starts 
as  a  monthly  journal,’  and  that  the  backers  of  it  ‘fully  realize 
the  responsible  and  difficult  task  confronting  us.’ 

“  ‘Long  live  anarchy!  Long  live  social  revolution!  For¬ 
ward,  comrades.  Down  with  Government!  Down  with  sepa¬ 
rate  property!  Long  live  national  self-determination,  equality, 
and  fraternity,’  the  editorial  concludes. 

“In  another  part  of  the  Bell,  which  is  sixteen  pages  in  size 
and  printed  on  the  finest  newsprint  paper,  it  is  stated  that 
‘before  the  war  freedom  existed  in  the  United  States,’  but  the 
writer  adds  that  it  has  disappeared  now. 

“On  page  14,  under  the  caption  ‘The  Damnable  Trinity,’  it 
is  written: 

“  ‘Make  one  big  stride,  and  you  shall  be  free.  Free  in  broth¬ 
erhood  and  in  equality.  Eliminate  private  property,  and  over 
the  heads  of  Government  and  law  organize  free  and  independ¬ 
ent  self-governing  communes.’ 

“In  another  part  of  the  paper  is  this  reference  to  patriotism 
in  the  schools: 

“  ‘It  is  self-evident  that  schools  as  well  as  other  institutions 
did  not  remain  untouched  as  before  the  war.  In  the  schools 
they,  with  all  their  intrigue,  endeavor  to  inject  patriotism  into 
the  children.  Out  of  them  now  they  are  trying  to  make  mental 
degenerates,  organizing  humoristic  troupes,  or  coercing  them 
under  the  obligation  of  the  loan.  And  these  very  children  who 
fail  to  do  this  are  persecuted  and  not  taught,  kept  without  din¬ 
ner,  are  given  bad  marks,  and  their  parents  threatened. 

“  ‘Always  bad  for  the  workers  in  the  plants  and  factories  at 
all  times,  but  now  more  so,  if  the  worker  is  not  a  patriot.  If 
he  does  not  buy  Liberty  loans  there  is  no  place  for  him,  no 
work,  and  he  is  thrown  out  to  starve.  He  is  blacklisted  and 
persecuted.  For  this  kind  of  worker  it  is  hard  to  find  a  job, 
because  the  bosses  demand  from  him  most  of  the  time  refer¬ 
ence  from  their  place  of  employment.’  ” 


i 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PROPAGANDA  BY  DISSENSION. 

The  attempt  to  set  up  internal  conflict  in  our  country  finds 
endless  opportunities.  One  familiar  method  is  to  call  this  a  rich 
man’s  war;  another  is  to  say  that  the  wealthy  are  making  vast 
profits  while  the  poor  go  hungry;  or  to  say  that  the  rich  men’s 
sons  are  slackers  while  the  poor  men’s  sons  do  the  fighting;  or  to 
claim  that  labor  is  being  crucified — all  these  are  meant  to  cause  a 
feud  between  capital  and  labor.  No  phrase  seems  too  contemptu¬ 
ous  for  some  of  these  critics,  who  can  see  nothing  more  in  our  ideals 
and  the  liberties  we  are  fighting  for  than  what  one  of  them  summed 
up  in  a  sneering  epigram  as  “A  Government  of  the  people  by  the 
rascals  for  the  rich.” 

There  are  numberless  ways  of  attacking  an  army  from  the  rear. 
It  is  vulnerable  in  the  munitions  works,  the  flour  mills,  the  ship 
yards,  the  barbed-wire  and  shoe  factories,  the  wheat  fields  or  in  the 
spruce  forest  at  the  extreme  distance. 

To  cause  strikes,  sabotage  or  discontent  in  any  of  the  multi¬ 
tudinous  industries  on  which  a  modern  army  relies,  has  exactly  the 
same  effect  on  its  success  as  to  bombard  it  with  shrapnel,  for  it 
accomplishes  the  same  result  of  removing  from  the  fighting  strength 
just  so  many  effectives.  And  an  enemy  wins  not  by  the  total  of  its 
enrollment,  but  by  the  total  of  its  effectives.  On  all  sides,  the 
Germans  endeavor  untiringly  to  foment  strikes.  Propaganda  is 
the  ideal  means  for  creating  labor  unrest. 

Soldiers  can  not  be  effective  nowadays  unless  they  are  supplied 
with  the  best  and  most  accurate  weapons,  unlimited  stores  of  am¬ 
munition  and  perfectly  equipped  reserves,  whose  numbers,  morale 
and  training  enable  them  to  enter  the  battle  at  its  crisis  with  a  de¬ 
cisive  effect.  The  side  that  has  the  final  reserves  after  the  bloody 
cancellation  of  the  engagement  is  the  side  that  wins. 

The  charge  that  this  is  a  war  for  the  capitalists  has  something 
more  than  an  academic  interest.  To  convince  one  soldier  in  the 
.firing  line  or  on  the  way  to  it,  or  in  a  training  camp,  that  the  cause 
for  which  his  life  is  put  in  jeopardy  is  an  unworthy  cause  in  which 
he  has  no  personal  interest;  that  he  goes,  indeed,  not  as  a  warrior 
defending  his  own  liberties,  but  as  a  driven  slave  upholding  tyrants 

118 


By  Dissension 


119 


who  use  him  for  their  own  ends,  is  to  rob  that  one  soldier  of  every 
impulse  to  endure  hardship,  to  respect  discipline,  to  face  death 
rather  than  surrender.  It  is  to  make  a  mutineer  of  a  possible  hero, 
to  plant  in  the  ranks  a  source  of  corruption,  to  place  in  a  post  of 
responsibility  one  who  would  rather  surrender  than  fight,  rather 
shoot  his  own  officer  than  the  enemy,  and  rather  run  home  than 
charge  forward. 

Assuming  that  the  men  in  the  trenches  are  all  convinced  of 
the  righteousness  of  their  mission  and  that  they  fight  for  their 
own  pride  of  freedom,  they  will  none  the  less  speedily  lose  heart 
if  they  imagine  that  they  are  not  supported  at  home;  if  they  find 
themselves  left  without  ammunition ;  if  the  gaps  that  death  makes 
in  their  ranks  are  not  filled.  They  feel  themselves  abandoned  and 
betrayed. 

The  bravest  and  most  efficient  soldier  refuses  to  waste  himself 
in  futile  attacks.  Everything  that  diminishes  his  pride  in  his  uni¬ 
form  and  his  feeling  that  he  gains  respect  from  it  is  a  blow  at  his 
morale.  There  is  no  more  outrageous  treason  than  that  which  in 
editorial,  speech  and  cartoon  represents  the  soldier  as  a  hireling, 
or  as  an  oppressor  of  labor  and  an  enemy  of  liberty. 

PROPAGANDA  AMONG  FRIENDLY  ALIENS. 

To  create  distrust  and  confusion  among  our  native  soldiery, 
being  a  constant  aim  of  the  propagandist,  he  naturally  supplements 
this  work  by  the  effort  to  stir  up  dissension  among  the  loyal  for¬ 
eigners. 

Poland,  for  example,  has  no  cause  to  love  Germany,  and  thou¬ 
sands  of  Poles  have  volunteered  to  fight  against  her.  There  are 
about  35,000  Poles  in  our  army.  They  have  been  distracted  by  many 
papers  in  their  own  language  endeavoring  to  convince  them  that 
they  are  mistreated.  These  papers  were  owned  or  subsidized  by 
German  or  Austrian  interests.  They  and  their  followers  spread 
slanders  on  America,  on  patriotic  Polish  leaders,  and  generally 
aim  to  scatter  dissension. 

What  is  true  of  the  Poles  is  true  of  nearly  all  the  other  foreign 
born  populace,  the  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Italians,  Greeks  and 
the  others.  Ho  sooner  does  a  group  of  loyal  aliens  organize  than 
every  member  of  it  and  every  leader  is  subjected  to  a  campaign  of 
the  most  vicious  propaganda. 


120 


Propaganda 


PROPAGANDA  AMONG  THE  NEGROES. 

I  .  * 

Unending  attempts  are  made  to  render  the  American  negroes 
resentful  and  disloyal.  In  the  early  part  of  the  war,  emissaries  of 
Germany  traveled  about  with  the  ambition  and  the  hope  of  raising 
negro  insurrections  throughout  the  South. 

The  newspapers  as  late  as  April  12,  1918,  described  the  attempt 
in  New  York  City  as  follows: 

“German  agents,  Federal  authorities  have  reason  to  believe, 
have  sought  to  transform  the  negro  sections  of  the  city  into  a 
‘hinterland’  for  the  propagation  of  false  and  morale-effecting 
rumors.  These  concerned  the  tens  of  thousands  of  colored  men 
who  wear  the  uniform  of  Uncle  Sam. 

“As  fertile  fields  for  their  work  they  selected  the  region 
about  ‘San  Juan  Hill,’  on  the  middle  West  Side,  and  the  ‘black 
belt’  of  Harlem.  Both  sections  have  recently  been  alive  with  re¬ 
ports  of  mistreatment  of  negro  troops. 

“According  to  Emmett  J.  Scott,  special  assistant  to  Secretary 
of  War  Baker,  the  rumors  have  been  to  the  effect: 

“(1)  That  in  the  American  expeditionary  forces  only  negroes 
will  be  used  as  ‘shock’  troops. 

“(2)  That  negroes  abroad  are  severely  abused  by  their  offi¬ 
cers. 

(3)  That  the  Germans  have  threatened  to  torture  to  death 
all  negro  soldiers  captured  in  battle. 

“(4)  That  there  are  now  at  Columbia  Hospital  (Base  No.  1, 
New  York  City)  two  hundred  negro  soldiers  with  their  eyes 
gouged  out  and  arms  cut  off  by  Germans,  the  idea  being  that 
after  the  Germans  get  through  with  them  they  are  sent  back  to 
the  American  lines  and  shipped  home. 

“These  reports  have  been  so  malignant  that  leaders  among 
the  New  York  negro  colony  have  been  conducting  a  quiet  inves¬ 
tigation  to  ascertain  their  genesis.  One  of  the  investigators  is 
Dr.  E.  P.  Roberts,  of  No.  130  West  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
street.  He  said  yesterday: 

“  ‘Certain  saloons  in  my  section  run  by  men  of  German  birth 
or  extraction  seem  to  be  the  central  rumor  factories.  Here 
negroes  who,  perhaps,  have  relatives  in  the  United  States  service 
are  told  Germany  is  bound  to  win  the  war.  They  are  also  told 
that  Germans  think  a  lot  of  the  colored  people,  who  are  better 
treated  in  German  East  African  colonies  than  anywhere  in  the 
world. 

“  ‘It  is  the  old  propaganda  by  which  Germany  sought  to  in¬ 
fluence  the  Hindus  and  the  Jews.’ 

“Dr.  Roberts  and  Fred  R.  Moore,  editor  of  the  New  York  Age, 
said  it  had  been  impossible  to  trace  the  rumors  to  any  specific 
individuals. 

“Eugene  K.  Jones,  executive  secretary  of  the  National  League 
on  Urban  Conditions  Among  Negroes,  at  No.  2303  Seventh  avenue, 
said: 

“  ‘The  Kaiser’s  agents  will  find  Harlem  an  unfertile  field  for 
enemy  propaganda.' 

“Denying  the  rumors  as  ridiculous  and  untrue,  Special  Assist¬ 
ant  to  the  Secretary  of  War  Scott  yesterday  pointed  out  that  there 


121 


By  Dissension 

i 

were  now  more  than  1,000  negro  commissioned  officers  in  the 
United  States  army.  He  added: 

“  ‘To  meet  isolated  cases  of  alleged  mistreatment  of  colored 
soldiers  by  white  officers  in  camps  and  cantonments,  Secretary 
Baker  ordered  a  special  investigation  on  November  30,  1917,  and 
has  continued  to  order  such  reports  investigated  whenever  they 
have  come  to  the  War  Department.  Wherever  there  has  been 
ground  for  the  charge  of  mistreatment,  official  responsibility 
therefor  has  been  fixed.  The  guilty  officer  or  others  responsible 
have  been  discharged  from  the  service  or  adequate  punishment 
inflicted.’  ” 

There  has  none  the  less  been  a  certain  amount  of  unrest  created 
among  the  negroes.  Its  German  significance  is  seen  in  the  case 
of  an  ex-preacher  employed  on  camp  construction,  who  was  heard 
telling  his  fellow  laborers  that  he  would  like  to  see  the  Kaiser 
destroy  some  of  our  cities,  civilize  Americans  and  rule  over  the 
whole  world. 

An  officer  of  the  Military  Intelligence  Branch,  who  has  made 
a  special  study  of  this  field,  contributes  the  following  estimate  of 
the  situation: 

“Unrest  among  colored  people  has  continued  to  increase,  and 
while  the  interposition  of  German  agents  may  be  traced  in  indi¬ 
vidual  cases,  the  causes  of  unrest  are  more  fundamental. 

“For  many  years  two  schools  of  thought  have  existed  among 
the  colored  people  of  the  country;  one  represented  by  Booker  T. 
Washington,  which  placed  emphasis  on  the  need  of  individual  train¬ 
ing  and  the  development  of  economic  power  among  negroes  in 
order  that  they  might  compete  economically  with  the  white  men; 
the  other  represented  by  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  which  emphasized  agita¬ 
tion  for  political  and  civil  rights,  and  which  insisted  that  no  amount 
of  industrial  training  would  obtain  •these  rights  without  such  agita¬ 
tion.  Since  the  death  of  Dr.  Washington  and  the  racial  ferment 
caused  by  the  European  war,  it  may  be  stated  that  virtually  every 
colored  man  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  reacted  against  the  theory 
of  compromise  and  conciliation  represented  by  Dr.  Washington, 
and  all  are  in  favor  of  a  more  radical  agitation  for  civil  and  political 
rights.  Through  two  hundred  colored  newspapers  and  numerous 
negro  conventions;  through  churches,  fraternal  organizations  and 
individual  discussions,  this  idea  has  reached  large  masses  of  colored 
people.  The  movement  was  independent  of  German  interposition 
and  would  have  continued  along  these  lines  even  if  we  had  not 
declared  war  against  Germany. 

“As  a  result  of  this  movement,  virtually  for  the  first  time  in 
American  history  large  masses  of  colored  people  have  realized  and 


122 


Propaganda 


resented  the  discriminations  directed  against  their  race.  They 
have  been  particularly  moved  by  the  contrast  between  the  imme¬ 
diate  punishment  of  the  thirteen  negro  soldiers  guilty  of  connection 
with  the  Houston  riots,  who  were  executed  without  public  notice 
of  their  conviction,  and  the  freedom  from  punishment  of  the  thou¬ 
sands  of  white  people  responsible  for  the  lynching  of  over  three 
thousand  negroes  in  the  last  forty  or  fifty  years.  At  the  time  of 
the  execution  of  the  thirteen  negroes,  many  of  the  colored  school 
teachers  of  Washington  wore  bands  of  crape  on  their  arms,  and  as 
the  lynchings  have  continued — over  two  hundred  colored  people 
have  been  lynched  since  the  declaration  of  war  against  Germany — 
the  resentment  has  increased. 

“As  a  result  of  this  condition,  colored  people  everywhere  are 
discussing  their  inferior  status  with  a  detachment  never  before 
known  to  them.  If  you  were  to  travel  across  the  continent 
and  visit  colored  homes  all  along  the  way,  you  would  not  find  one 
in  which  such  questions  as  these  were  not  being  calmly  debated : 
‘Why  should  colored  people  take  an  interest  in  this  war?  Why 
should  they  fight  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy  abroad, 
when  it  is  neither  democratic  nor  safe  for  them  here  ?  What  differ¬ 
ence  would  it  make  to  the  race  if  this  country  was  under  the 
dominion  of  Germany  instead  of  the  Southern  white  man  V  '  These 
questions  imply  no  disloyalty,  but  simply  a  new  attitude  of  inquiry, 
and  the  birth  of  a  critical  spirit  among  twelve  million  American 
citizens. 

“As  a  result  of  this  new  attitude,  every  detail  of  discrimination 
which  "was  formerly  taken  for  granted,  is  now  being  subjected  to 
a  new  scrutiny,  is  repeated  overhand  over,  and  becomes  exaggerated 
as  a  result  of  such  repetition.  The  following  case  will  indicate  the 
spread  of  such  details: 

“Several  months  ago,  through  a  number  of  sources,  it  was 
learned  that  many  colored  people  were  convinced  that  a  number 
of  colored  soldiers  had  been  returned  from  France  in  a  horribly 
mutilated  condition,  and  that  they  were  in  local  hospitals,  some 
with  their  eyes  gouged  out,  others  with  their  tongues  cut  out;  also 
that  colored  troops  abroad  were  given  the  most  dangerous  positions, 
were  neglected  wrhen  wounded,  and  left  to  die  on  the  ground.  A 
number  of  the  leading  colored  people  were  taken  to  the  hospitals 
mentioned  and  were  shown  that  these  rumors  were  unfounded, 
and  that  the  few  colored  soldiers  in  the  hospitals  were  what 
the  surgeon  described  as  “not  even  interesting  cases.”  The  local 


By  Dissension 


123 


colored  community  was  satisfied  and  the  rumor  cleared  for  a  while. 

“In  a  short  time,  however,  a  similar  report  crept  out  elsewhere. 
The  information  reached  us  that  the  colored  maids,  in  fact,  the 
whole  colored  population,  of  a  suburb  near  New  York  were  com¬ 
pletely  demoralized  by  a  report  of  the  ill  treatment  of  the  colored 
troops  abroad.  The  Military  Intelligence  Branch  cabled  to  Gen¬ 
eral  Pershing  and  received  a  definite  and  explicit  report  from  him 
by  cablegram,  showing  that  the  rumor  was  not  only  unfounded, 
but  that  most  of  the  colored  troops  were  not  in  actual  service,  and 
only  a  handful  had  been  wounded  in  action.  This  information 
was  spread  through  the  press,  and  a  temporary  quietus  was  given 
to  the  rumor  by  it. 

“But  recently  a  report  has  crept  out  again  from  another  source : 
The  wife  of  a  colored  captain  was  informed  from  ten  different 
sources  that  her  husband  had  been  badly  wounded  and  was  in  a 
hospital  in  Washington,  although  no  report  of  his  wounds  had 
been  officially  sent  to  her.  This,  of  course,  turned  out  to  be  a  false 
rumor,  but  the  point  is  that  this  rumor  appeared  and  reappeared 
in  different  places.  As  soon  as  disposed  of  and  quieted  in  one 
place,  these  rumors  reappear  in  some  other  place  in  about  the  time 
it  would  take  for  such  rumor  to  reach  a  distant  point.  They 
weaken  seriously  the  morale  of  the  colored  people,  and  in  so  far 
as  they  weaken  the  morale  of  twelve  million  people  of  the  best 
possible  fighting  material,  they  must  be  given  serious  consideration 
by  military  authorities.” 

PROPAGANDA  BY  RUMOR. 

The  most  dangerous  influence  of  all  perhaps  is  one  that  can 
hardly  be  traced  to  its  origins.  It  is  the  process  of  creating  an 
atmosphere,  preparing  a  soil  in  which  all  manner  of  noxious  weeds 
breed  of  themselves  and  spring  up  on  all  sides  almost  overnight. 
Once  started  they  are  almost  impossible  to  uproot.  The  most 
innocent  persons  unconsciously  contribute  to  the  spread  of  these 
plagues  and  punishment  of  the  guilty  is  prevented  by  their  multi¬ 
tude. 

It  has  been  shown  how  victorious  Italian  armies  were  turned 
into  fugitive  mobs  by  the  powers  of  rumor.  So  whole  populations 
can  be  discouraged  in  the  hour  of  success  or  buoyed  up  in  times 
of  despair  by  gossip  skillfully  managed. 

The  baleful  power  of  rumor  has  always  been  recognized,  but 
under  the  modern  name  of  propaganda  it  has  gained  an  enormous 


124  Propaganda 

increase  of  power  both  for  good  and  evil,  because  of  the  enormous 
increase  of  facilities. 

Everybody  reads  and  writes,  and  the  postal  service  is  of  vast 
proportions.  The  telephone,  telegraph  and  cable  systems  bring  the 
remotest  ears  within  access  of  the  whispers  of  gossip.  The  news¬ 
papers  go  into  every  home  and  make  the  whole  world  one  neighbor¬ 
hood.  By  their  generous  use  of  the  wire-service,  long  articles  may 
be  made  to  appear  simultaneously  at  almost  every  breakfast  table 
in  the  land. 

Thus  while  scientific  and  mechanical  progress  go  on  enlarging 
the  scope  of  our  daily  life,  and  giving  everything  a  cosmopolitan 
significance,  at  the  same  time  they  are  making  the  world  more  and 
more  one  town.  We  are  all  neighbors,  and  at  the  mercy  of  one 
another's  tongues. 

It  is  in  no  sense  a  mere  bit  of  rhetoric  but  an  absolute  fact  that 
any  diminution  soever  of  the  maximum  power  and  enthusiasm 
of  a  nation  at  war  has  a  direct  and  perilous  military  effect. 

The  person,  therefore,  who  by  any  means  keeps  one  soldier  from 
the  front  or  who  mars  the  perfection  of  his  efficiency  has  done 
exactly  what  the  open  enemy  in  the  opposite  trench  does  when 
he  kills  one  of  our  soldiers.  Indeed,  he  has  done  yet  more,  for 
he  has  left  that  enemy  free  to  spend  that  bullet  in  the  killing 
of  another  soldier. 

In  a  country  so  large  as  ours,  and  so  far  removed  from  the 
seat  of  war,  propaganda  becomes  almost  the  only  weapon  with  a 
long  enough  reach  to  be  effective.  The  extraordinary  extent  of 
the  circulation  of  newspapers  and  magazines  in  America  gives  this 
weapon  an  unlimited  range. 

PROPAGANDA  BY  CARTOON  AND  ESSAY. 

Though  the  vast  majority  of  American  writers  and  artists 
have  devoted  their  abilities  with  great  ardor  to  the  cause  of  their 
country,  there  have  been  a  few  satirists  who  have  been  unable  to 
respond  to  the  crisis,  and  have  preferred  to  devote  their  abilities 
to  interfering  with  the  success  of  the  war. 

A  small  group  of  these  was  concerned  in  the  cooperative  pub¬ 
lication  of  a  paper  of  small  circulation  called  The  Masses.  The 
Postmaster  of  YewT  York  having  finally  forbidden  the  mails  to  the 
August,  1917,  issue  under  the  Espionage  Act  of  June  15,  1917, 
an  injunction  was  sought  to  restrain  him. 


By  Dissension 


125 


The  Postmaster  had  fortified  himself  with  an  opinion  from  the 
Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  Army,  who  stated  that  “the  neces¬ 
sary  effect  of  the  issue  of  this  August  number  would  be  to  cause 
insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny,  and  refusal  of  duty  in  the 
naval  and  military  forces  of  the  hfnited  States,  and  that  it  would 
obstruct  the  recruiting  and  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States/’ 
The  U.  S.  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New 
York  granted  a  temporary  injunction  on  July  26,  1917.  The  Post¬ 
master  took  an  appeal  and  the  U.  S.  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals, 
Second  Circuit,  reversed  the  injunction. 

The  opinion  handed  down  contains  an  important  account  of  the 
methods  and  aims  of  this  school  of  propagandists  and  their  relation 
to  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  the  law  and  many 
precedents  being  freely  quoted,  and  the  Court  holding  that  “The 
Espionage  Act,  in  so  far  as  it  excludes  from  the  mails  certain  mat¬ 
ters  declared  to  be  unmailable,  is  constitutional.” 

From  this  decision,  issued  as  Bulletin  No.  7  by  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Justice,  the  following  description  of  the  objectionable  mat¬ 
ter  is  quoted : 

“The  objectionable  matter  was  contained  in  the  August  issue, 
and  consisted  of  certain  articles.  These  were  entitled  ‘A  Ques¬ 
tion,’  ‘A  Tribute,’  ‘Conscientious  Objectors,’  ‘Friends  of  American 
Freedom.’  Besides  these  articles  there  were  four  cartoons  which 
were  also  objected  to.  These  were  entitled  ‘Liberty  Bell,’  ‘Con¬ 
scription,’  ‘Making  the  World  Safe  for  Capitalism’  and  ‘Congress 
and  Big  Business.’ 

“The  article  ‘A  Question’  idealizes  those  who  resist  the  con¬ 
scription  law  and  it  represents  them  as  heroic.  In  saying  that  the 
law  violates  sacred  rights  and  is  contrary  to  liberty  and  that  those 
who  refuse  to  submit  to  it  are  heroes  it  incites  disobedience  to 
the  statute. 

“The  poem  entitled  ‘A  Tribute’  represents  as  martyrs  worthy 
of  admiration  two  notorious  persons  who  had  just  been  convicted 
under  an  indictment  charging  them  with  conspiracy  to  induce 
persons  not  to  register  under  the  conscription  act.  It  reads  in 
part  as  follows: 

“Emma  Goldman  and  Alexander  Berkman 
“Are  in  prison  tonight. 

“But  they  have  made  themselves  elemental  forces. 

“Like  the  water  that  climbs  down  the  rocks, 

“Like  the  wind  in  the  leaves, 

“Like  the  gentle  night  that  holds  us, 

“They  are  working  on  our  destinies; 

“They  are  forging  the  love  of  the  nations. 

“The  statement  that  these  two  individuals  have  made  them¬ 
selves  elemental  forces  akin  to  the  rocks  and  trees  and  rivers, 
under  ordinary  circumstances  would  be  harmless,  but  coming  at 
this  particular  time  and  after  their  conviction,  the  inference 
being  that  their  greatness  grows  out  of  their  offense  and  that 


126 


Propaganda 


they  are  worthy  of  admiration  and  honor,  is  equivalent  to  saying 
that  their  unlawful  conduct  is  worthy  to  be  followed. 

“The  article,  ‘Conscientious  Objectors,’  refers  to  a  number  of 
letters  written  from  English  prisons  by  conscientious  objectors. 
These  letters  are  printed  in  the  same  issue  of  the  magazine,  and 
the  article  recommends  those  in  this  country  who  intend  ‘to 
stick  it  out  to  the  end’  (resist  conscription  to  the  end)  to  read 
thoroughly  the  letters. 

“The  article,  taken  as  a  whole,  may  well  be  regarded  as  in¬ 
tended  to  encourage  objectors  to  be  as  steadfast  protestors  against 
‘government  tyranny’  as  their  English  comrades.  In  other  words, 
it  is  an  encouragement  to  disobey  the  law. 

“The  Article  ‘Friends  of  American  Freedom’  is  devoted  to 
Alexander  Berkman  and  Emma  Goldman,  already  commented 
upon  in  this  opinion  as  having  been  convicted  of  a  conspiracy  to 
induce  persons  not  to  register.  The  article  pays  them  ‘tribute 
of  admiration  for  their  courage  and  devotion.’  There  is  an  allu¬ 
sion  to  the  fact  that  Berkman  and  Goldman  had  advocated  in 
their  paper,  Mother  Earth ,  that  those  liable  to  the  military  draft 
who  do  not  believe  in  the  war  should  refuse  to  register.  The  nat¬ 
ural  effect  of  it  is  to  encourage  those  who  have  objections  to  war 
not  to  register  as  the  conscription  act  requires.  Admiration  of 
conspirators  convicted  of  the  offense  of  seeking  to  defeat  the 
operation  of  the  conscription  act  is  equivalent  to  an  approval  of 
their  crime  and  an  encouragement  to  others  to  disobey  the  law  in 
like  manner. 

“In  considering  the  cartoons  we  may  observe  that  political 
cartoons  have  long  been  used  as  a  very  effective  means  of  political 
propaganda.  They  were  so  employed  in  France  during  the  French 
Revolution  and  in  England  as  early  as  the  days  of  Walpole.  In 
this  country  they  were  used  during  the  Revolution,  in  the  War 
of  1812,  and  in  the  Civil  War.  The  brilliant  cartoons  of  Nast 
satirizing  the  Tweed  ring  in  the  city  of  New  York  were  conceded 
at  the  time  to  have  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  that  corrupt  combination.  A  cartoon  may  be  a  leading 
article.  It  has  been  described  as  ‘a  leading  article  transformed 
into  a  picture.’  It  can  express  ideas  as  lucidly  and  clearly  as 
printed  words,  and  there  is  no  escape  from  legal  responsibility 
because  pictures  rather  than  words  are  used. 

“In  the  cartoon  entitled  ‘Liberty  Bell’  the  Liberty  Bell  is  pre¬ 
sented  in  a  broken  form.  The  idea  meant  to  be  conveyed  may  be 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  liberty  left  in  the  United  States. 
But  whatever  it  means,  taken  by  itself,  it  would  afford  no  ground 
for  exclusion  from  the  mails. 

“The  cartoon  entitled  ‘Conscription’  portrays  a  youth  lying 
across  the  mouth  of  a  cannon  with  his  arms  chained  to  the  wheels 
of  the  gun  carriage.  ‘Democracy,’  in  the  form  of  a  nude 
woman,  is  tied  by  her  extended  arms  and  her  crossed 
feet  to  a  wheel.  And  ‘Labor,’  crouched  down  on  a  gun  carriage, 
a  pitiable  object,  is  fastened  in  like  manner.  A  woman  is  on  her 
knees  on  the  earth  at  the  side  of  the  cannon  in  utter  despair, 
with  her  head  bent  back  and  her  arms  uplifted,  while  a  child  lies 
neglected  at  her  side.  The  counsel  for  the  complainant  admits  in 
his  brief  that  this  cartoon  ‘is  a  powerful  argument  against  the 
conscription  law.  It  says,  in  effect,  that  the  youth  of  the  land 
are  by  it  forced  into  military  service;  that  the  law  binds  labor 
to  military  service  as  well;  that  it  causes  great  agony  and  suffer¬ 
ing  to  the  womanhood  of  the  country,  and  that  the  mothers  of  the 


By  Dissension 


127 


country  with  children  too  small  to  be  subject  to  the  “draft”  pray 
to  God  that  the  draft  law  may  be  repealed  before  their  children 
come  to  military  age,  and  that  democracy  is  trampled  under 
foot  by  such  a  law.  That  is  what  this  picture  says.’  But  that 
is  not  what  it  says  to  us.  It  seems  to  us  to  say,  ‘This  law  mur¬ 
ders  youth,  enslaves  labor  to  its  misery,  drives  womanhood  into 
utter  despair  and  agony,  and  takes  away  from  democracy  its 
freedom.’  Its  voice  is  not  the  voice  of  patriotism  and  its  language 
suggests  disloyalty. 

“If  counsel  wished  the  court  to  understand  that  in  his  opin¬ 
ion  the  effect  of  the  cartoon  would  not  be  to  interfere  with  en¬ 
listment,  we  are  not  able  to  agree  with  him.  That  it  would 
interfere  and  was  intended  to  interfere  was  evidently  the  opinion 
of  the  Postmaster  General.  And  this  court  can  not  say  that  he 
was  not  justified  in  his  conclusion. 

“The  cartoon  ‘Making  the  World  Safe  for  Capitalism’  shows  a 
Russian  absorbed  in  studying  a  paper  marked  ‘Plans  for  a  Gen¬ 
uine  Democracy.’  On  one  side  of  him  Japan  and  England  appear 
in  a  threatening  attitude  and  on  the  other  Mr.  Root  and  Mr. 
Russell,  members  of  the  commission  sent  by  the  United  States  to 
Russia,  appear  in  the  guise  of  advisers.  Mr.  Root  has  in  his  hands 
a  noose  labeled  ‘Advice,’  with  which  it  is  intended  to  entrap  or 
choke  to  death  the  Russian  democracy.  The  court  can  not  say 
that  the  Postmaster  General  was  not  warranted  in  concluding 
that  this  cartoon  was  intended  to  arouse  the  resentment  of  some 
of  our  citizens  of  foreign  birth  and  prevent  their  enlistment. 

“In  the  cartoon  ‘Congress  and  Big  Business’  Congress  is  rep¬ 
resented  by  a  disconsolate  individual  who  is  ignored  by  a  number 
of  overdeveloped  men  of  big  business  gathered  around  a  table 
inspecting  a  large  paper  spread  over  it  and  labeled  ‘War  Plans.’ 
Congress  is  quoted  as  saying:  ‘Excuse  me,  gentlemen,  where  do 
I  come  in?’  ‘Big  Business’  replies:  ‘Run  along  now!  We  got 
through  with  you  when  you  declared  war  for  us.’  This  cartoon 
is  intended  to  stir  up  class  hatred  of  the  war  and  to  arouse  an 
unwillingness  to  serve  in  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the 
United  States.  The  clear  import  is,  if  the  war  was  brought  on 
by  ‘big  business,’  then  let  ‘big  business’  carry  it  on  and  let  labor 
stand  aloof.  The  court  cannot  say  that  the  Postmaster  General 
was  clearly  wrong  in  concluding  that  it  would  interfere  with 
enlistments. 

“That  one  may  willingly  obstruct  the  enlistment  service  with¬ 
out  advising  in  direct  language  against  enlistments,  and  without 
stating  that  to  refrain  from  enlistment  is  a  duty  or  in  one’s  inter¬ 
est  seems  to  us  too  plain  for  controversy.  To  obstruct  the  recruit¬ 
ing  or  enlistment  service  within  the  meaning  of  the  statute  it  is 
not  necessary  that  there  should  be  a  physical  obstruction.  Any¬ 
thing  which  impedes,  hinders,  retards,  restrains,  or  puts  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  recruiting  is  sufficient.  In  granting  the 
stay  of  the  injunction  until  this  case  could  be  heard  in  this 
court  upon  the  appeal,  Judge  Hough  declared  that  ‘It  is  at  least 
arguable  whether  there  can  be  any  more  direct  incitement  to 
action  than  to  hold  up  to  admiration  those  who  do  act.  Oratio 
obliqua  has  always  been  preferred  by  rhetoricians  to  oratio  recta; 
the  beatitudes  have  for  some  centuries  been  considered  highly 
hortatory,  though  they  do  not  contain  the  injunction  “Go  thou 
and  do  likewise.”  ’  With  this  statement  we  fully  agree.  More¬ 
over  it  is  not  necessary  that  an  incitement  to  crime  must  be 
direct.  At  common  law  the  ‘counseling’  which  constituted  one 


128 


Propaganda 


an  accessory  before  the  fact  might  be  indirect.  (See  Wharton’s 
Criminal  Law,  11th  ed.,  sec.  266.) 

“Bishop  lays  down  the  rule  thus: 

“  ‘Every  man  is  responsible  criminally  for  what  of  wrong 
flows  directly  from  his  corrupt  intentions.  *  *  *  If  he  awoke 

into  action  an  indiscriminate  power,  he  is  responsible.  If  he 
gave  directions  vaguely  and  incautiously,  and  the  person  receiv¬ 
ing  them  acted  according  to  what  he  might  have  foreseen  would 
be  the  understanding,  he  is  responsible.  (1  Bishop  on  Criminal 
Law,  sec.  641.)’ 

“And  in  Regina  v.  Sharpe  (3  Cox’s  C.  C.,  288)  it  is  laid  down 
that — 

“  ‘He  who  inflames  people’s  minds  and  induces  them  by  violent 
means  to  accomplish  an  illegal  object  is  himself  a  rioter,  though 
he  takes  no  part  in  the  riot.’ 

“Indeed  the  court  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  considering 
the  natural  and  reasonable  effect  of  the  publication,  it  was  in¬ 
tended  willfully  to  obstruct  recruiting.  And  even  though  we  were 
not  convinced  that  any  such  intent  existed  and  were  in  doubt 
concerning  it,  the  case  would  be  governed  by  the  principle  that 
the  head  of  a  department  of  the  Government,  in  a  doubtful  case, 
will  not  be  overruled  by  the  courts  in  a  matter  which  involves 
his  judgment  and  discretion  and  which  is  within  his  jurisdic¬ 
tion.” 

Several  of  the  publishers  of  The  Masses  were  brought  to  trial 
on  charges  of  violating  the  Espionage  Act. 

The  defendants  protested  that  they  had  changed  their  minds 
since  this  publication  and  that  they  were  now  convinced  of  the 
justice  of  our  entry  into  the  war,  and  the  necessity  of  the  conscrip¬ 
tion  act.  Largely  on  account  of  this  recantation,  no  doubt,  the  jury 
disagreed  after  remaining  out  for  thirty-six  hours. 

VARIOUS  LIES  :  THE  SWEATER  STORY. 

As  there  is  hardly  a  field  of  human  endeavor  that  is  not  af¬ 
fected  by  the  war,  there  is  hardly  a  field  which  the  hostility  of  the 
enemy  has  overlooked.  This  is  what  might  be  called  the  spiritual 
invasion.  Anything  that  tends  to  diminish  the  ardor,  the  con¬ 
viction,  the  optimism  of  the  people  at  large,  is  hardly  less  destruc¬ 
tive  of  effectiveness  than  an  actual  defeat  on  the  battleground. 

At  a  time  when  the  whole  nation  must  bend  every  energy  and 
make  every  sacrifice,  discouraging  rumors  gain  an  incalculable 
power.  The  ridicule  of  measures  concerning  food  conservation,  or 
aspersions  on  their  honesty,  or  impartiality,  may  have  as  destructive 
a  result  as  the  torpedoing  of  food-ships.  The  starting  of  some 
picturesque  lie  such  as  the  absurdity  that  the  President’s  private 
secretary  had  been  found  guilty  of  treason  and  shot,  spreads  like 
wild-fire  through  the  nation,  carrying  discouragement  and  dismay. 


By  Dissension 


129 


The  famous  sweater  story  is  a  typical  case :  It  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  health  of  our  troops  that  sweaters,  socks,  wrist¬ 
lets  and  “helmets”  should  be  knitted  for  them  by  the  devoted  women 
of  the  land,  and  an  enormous  quantity  of  these  articles  provided 
from  the  countless  hand  looms. 

Suddenly  a  story  appeared  somewhere  that  a  woman  who  had 
knitted  a  sweater  and  sewed  into  it  a  bank  note  for  the  comfort  of 
the  wearer,  found  that  sweater  on  the  back  of  a  Red  Cross  agent,  or 
on  the  counter  of  a  department  store.  This  story  reappeared  with 
inconceivable  frequency  in  the  United  States.  It  was  almost  always 
told  as  the  experience  of  a  friend  of  a  friend,  and  had  just  trans¬ 
pired  in  each  instance. 

Every  woman  who  hears  and  believes  this  circumstantial  story 
is  inclined  to  give  up  her  work.  The  sum  total  of  such  a  diminu¬ 
tion  of  output  can  not  be  computed.  In  times  of  peace  such  ex¬ 
amples  of  wireless  gossip  are  merely  amusing  encouragements  to 
satire.  In  a  time  of  war,  they  constitute  a  serious  danger. 

The  extent  of  this  form  of  propaganda  was  revealed  by  the 
American  Protective  League,  which  sent  out  a  Questionnaire  to 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  towns  and  cities.  The  story  of  the 
execution  of  the  President’s  secretary,  the  sweater  story,  and  various 
other  fables  wrere  reported  as  rife  in  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Pitts¬ 
burgh,  Kansas  City,  Cleveland,  Fort  Wayne,  Minneapolis,  Galves¬ 
ton,  Houston,  Hastings,  Nebr. ;  Memphis,  Tenn. ;  Rice  Lake,  Wis. ; 
Pierre,  S.  Dak. ;  Sacramento,  Portland,  Oreg. ;  Tucson,  Ariz.,  and 
nearly  every  other  community.  In  many  cases  it  is  impossible  to 
trace  such  stories  directly  to  German  sources,  but  they  are  no  less 
dangerous  for  being  of  American  origin.  Rumor-mongers  are  as 
proper  subjects  for  investigation  and  repression  as  mutinous  sol¬ 
diers,  deserters  (*r  traitors  in  the  ranks. 

The  Milwaukee  Sentinel  of  June  21,  1918,  announced  a  new 
story  going  the  rounds  to  the  effect  that  Japan  is  getting  ready 
to  attack  the  United  States  as  soon  as  all  our  draftmen  are  out 
of  the  country. 

In  San  Francisco  a  German  clairvoyant  was  arrested  for  giving 
out  prophecies  of  pro-German  successes  to  her  dupes. 

Stories  of  naval  disasters  to  our  fleet,  quotations  from  eye-wit¬ 
nesses,  once-removed,  of  hundreds  of  wounded  sailors  seen  being 
smuggled  into  hospitals;  stories  of  epidemics  sweeping  through  our 
camps  ;  tales  of  hardships  and  cruelties  and  immoralities — all  these 
tend  not  only  to  agonize  the  kindred  of  our  soldiers  and  sailors,  but 


130 


Propaganda 


to  diminish  enlistment,  to  strengthen  the  pacifists  and  the  aliens, 
to  encourage  resistance  to  the  draft.  Statements  that  Liberty 
Bonds  and  Thrift  Stamps  are  worthless  and  will  be  repudiated  have 
a  direct  financial  menace. 

People  and  societies  of  loudly  proclaimed  sincerity  have  promul¬ 
gated  the  most  outrageous  slanders  proclaiming  the  immorality 
of  Red  Cross  nurses  and  the  drunkenness  and  viciousness  of  our 
troops  abroad  and  at  home.  Such  libels  left  unpunished  not  only 
reward  the  noblest  patriots  with  unmerited  dishonor,  but  they  dis¬ 
courage  sacrifice  and  instil  a  paralyzing  cynicism. 

The  running  down  of  such  rumors  takes  time  and  labor  and 
organization,  but  it  is  vital  to  our  efficiency  not  only  to  stamp 
out  such  libel,  but  to  bring  home  to  our  population,  native  and 
foreign,  that  they  manufacture  and  disseminate  such  rumors  at 
their  peril. 

The  German  military  party  regarded  America  with  a  frank 
contempt,  and  boasted  openly  that  they  were  prepared  for  any 
National  activity.  They  spoke  with  confidence  of  the  damage  that 
they  would  do  to  the  United  States.  Great  damage  has  indeed  been 
done  in  innumerable  ways,  and  especially  by  what  has  come  to  be 
known  as  the  “Whispering  Propaganda.” 


TRACING  A  RUMOR. 

As  a  striking  example  of  the  rapidity  with  which  rumor  spreads 
and  the  irresponsibility  of  its  promulgators,  the  two  following  docu¬ 
ments  are  worth  quoting.  They  are  reports  of  an  effort  to  run 
down  an  atrocity  story.  The  reports  are  verbatim  except  for  the 
change  of  names  of  persons,  hotels  and  streets : 

“From:  Captain  - . 

“To:  Captain  - . 

“Subject:  Report  of  outrage  upon  soldier. 

“1.  Lt.  Col.  -  instructed  the  writer  to  make  an  investi¬ 

gation  of  the  following  matter: 

“2.  It  was  reported  by  Lt.  -  of  Col. - ’s  staff  that 

he  had  heard  through  a  young  lady  at  the  Yendome  Hotel,  this 
city,  who  had  in  turn  heard  from  her  sister  this  information, 

that  a  soldier  at  the  -  Hospital  in  -  had  been  sent 

there  from  France  with  his  tongue  cut  out. 

“3.  It  was  reported  that  the  mother  of  this  soldier  or  a  friend 
of  his  had  gone  to  the  hospital  to  see  him.  Upon  her  arrival 
there  a  nurse  or  a  doctor  had  taken  her  to  his  room,  previous 
to  which  she  was  warned  not  to  speak  to  him.  The  nature  of 
his  injury  was  not  communicated  to  the  mother  or  friend  until 
after  the  visit  to  this  soldier,  when  she  was  told  that  his  tongue 
had  been  cut  out. 


By  Dissension 


131 


“4.  Miss  Mary  Smith,  telephone  operator  at  the  Hotel  Ven- 
dome,  stated  that  she  had  received  this  information  from  her 
sister,  a  Mrs.  Jones,  telephone  operator  at  the  Hamilton  Hotel. 
Miss  Smith’s  story  was  substantially  the  same  as  is  outlined  in 
the  preceding  paragraph. 

“5.  Mrs.  Jones,  telephone  operator  at  the  Hamilton  Hotel, 
was  interviewed  and  stated  that  she  had.  heard  from  a  Miss 
White,  also  a  telephone  operator  at  the  Hamilton,  that  the 
mother  of  this  hoy  went  to  the  hospital  to  see  him  and  they  made 
her  promise  not  to  talk  to  him.  She  was  later  told  upon  leav¬ 
ing  the  hospital  that  the  boy  had  his  tongue  cut  out. 

“6.  Miss  White  was  interviewed  at  her  address,  146  Astor 

•  Street.  She  was  up  to  a  week  ago  employed  as  a  telephone  op¬ 
erator  at  the  Vendome,  but  has  left  her  position.  She  stated 
the  story  was  told  her  by  her  aunt,  Mrs.  S.  G.  White,  of  136 
Astor  Street.  She  did  not  know  the  mother  of  this  hoy,  and 
the  details  of  the  story  in  her  mind  were  a  little  vague. 

“7.  Mrs.  S.  G.  White,  136  Astor  Street,  was  interviewed,  and 
her  story  varied  a  little  from  that  given  previously.  The  writer 
assumed  that  he  was  going  to  locate  the  mother  of  this  soldier, 
as  up  to  this  time  the  stories  were  all  about  the  same.  Mrs. 
White,  however,  stated  that  she  did  not  understand  that  the 
mother  of  this  boy  had  visited  him,  but  there  was  such  a  sol¬ 
dier  confined  at  the  hospital  with  such  an  injury.  She  stated 
that  the  story  had  been  told  her  by  a  Mrs.  Green,  156  Astor 
Street,  and  by  a  Mrs.  Young,  131  Astor  Street.  She  had  also 
heard  it  for  some  weeks  past  from  various  sources  more  or  less 
to  the  effect  as  given  above. 

“8.  Mrs.  Green,  156  Astor  Street,  was  interviewed,  and  she 
stated  that  she  could  not  recall  the  source  of  this  information, 
hut  had  heard  it  talked  about  generally  in  public  places  and 
during  her  various  calls  as  a  Liberty  Loan  solicitor. 

“9.  While  at  Mrs.  Green’s  house,  her  brother,  Mr.  F.  J.  Right, 
made  his  appearance  and  stated  that  he  had  heard  through  a  Mr. 
J.  M.  Simpson,  residing  at  727  Dupont  Street,  that  a  Mr.  Samuel 
Porter,  deputy  superintendent,  above  company,  had  made  a  speech 
a  week  previous  to  the  agents  of  this  company,  wherein  he 

stated  that  he  had  been  to  the  > -  Hospital  and  had  seen  a 

soldier  there  who  had  had  his  tongue  cut  out  by  the  Germans. 

“10.  Mrs.  Young,  131  Astor  Street,  was  interviewed  and  stated 
that  she  had  heard  this  rumor,  but  could  not  recall  from  whom 
she  had  heard  it,  as  it  had  been  more  or  less  common  talk  now 
for  several  weeks  with  many  of  the  women  of  her  acquaintance.” 

(Above  report  dated  May  21.) 

The  following  is  dated  June  4,  1918 : 

“From:  A.  - . 

“To:  Captain  - . 

“Subject:  Report  of  outrage  upon  soldier. 

“1.  Information  being  received  that  Miss  Minnie  Ryder,  a 
hair-dresser  at  1328  Fairfax  Street,  is  telling  a  story  that  she 

went  to  visit  a  friend,  wounded  soldier  at  the  - Hospital, 

who  had  his  hands  cut  off  and  his  tongue  cut  out. 

“2.  It  being  desired  that  Miss  Ryder  be  interviewed  and  the 
name  of  soldier  and  full  details  of  the  matter  be  obtained,  your 
agent  acting  upon  your  instructions  has  made  the  investigation 
of  the  case  and  respectfully  submits  the  following: 

“3.  Miss  Minnie  Ryder,  1328  Fairfax  Street,  stated  that  she 


132 


Propaganda 


has  never  visited  the  hospital  in  question;  has  no  friends  or 
acquaintances  there;  has  never  made  any  remarks  regarding 
the  subject,  but  has  heard  of  the  case  through  a  friend,  Mrs. 
Frederick  Palmer. 

“4.  Mrs.  Alberta  Palmer,  1435  Harkness  Street,  stated  that 
she  had  made  several  visits  to  the  hospital  in  question  but  has 
never  heard  of  the  case  from  any  one  connected  with  said  hos¬ 
pital,  but  she  has  been  told  of  such  a  case  by  her  sister-in-law, 
a  Mrs.  Harry  0.  Harbor,  also  from  members  of  the  Red  Cross 
Chapter  of  — ♦ Church. 

“5.  Mrs.  Harry  O.  Harbor,  3149  Kingston  Street,  stated  that 
she  has  made  several  visits  to  the  hospital,  she  being  interested 
in  Red  Cross  work;  she  has  never  heard  of  the  case  through 
any  one  at  said  hospital,  but  has  been  told  of  the  subject  by  a 
Miss  Genevieve  Rooney,  who  rooms  at  her  residence.  The  case 
was  later  the  subject  of  a  conversation  she  had  with  some  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Red  Cross  Chapter  of  the  -  Church — she  could 

not  recall  the  names  of  members — and  later  by  some  negro 
woman  who  stated  that  she  had  also  heard  of  the  case. 

“6.  Miss  Genevieve  Rooney,  3149  Kingston  Street,  stated  that 
she  had  heard  of  the  case  through  a  Mrs.  W.  O.  McClaflin. 

“7.  Mrs.  W.  0.  McClaflin,  clerk  in - ,  stated  that  she  was 

told  of  the  case  by  a  Mrs.  C.  E.  Grey. 

“8.  Mrs.  C.  E.  Grey,  408  Brighton  Street,  stated  that  she  was 
told  of  the  case  by  a  Mr.  Elmer  Fraider,  who  has  a  room  in  her 
residence. 

“9.  Mr.  Elmer  Fraider,  408  Brighton  Street,  stated  that  he 
was  told  of  the  case  by  a  Mr.  W.  W.  James,  who  is  employed 
in  the  trench;  that  Mr.  James  was  out  of  town  at  this  time, 
but  that  he  told  him  that  he  had  heard  of  the  case  through  a 
Miss  E.  A.  Sullivan. 

“10.  Miss  E.  A.  Sullivan,  1236  Superior  Street,  stated  that 
she  heard  of  the  case  through  a  trained  nurse,  Mrs.  Oneida  Car¬ 
ter,  who  shares  the  same  apartment  as  she. 

“11.  Mrs.  Oneida  Carter,  1236  Superior  Street,  stated  that 
she  was  told  of  the  case  by  a  Mrs.  Wm.  F.  Cameron,  of  Apart¬ 
ment  No.  1,  1236  Superior  Street. 

“12.  Mrs.  Wm.  F.  Cameron,  1236  Superior  Street,  stated  that 
she  was  told  of  the  case  by  her  husband. 

“13.  Mr.  Wm.  F.  Cameron,  1236  Superior  Street,  stated  that 

he  had  read  of  the  case  in  the  -  Times  about  two  or  three 

months  ago;  that  he  could  not  remember  the  exact  date;  that 

since  reading  of  the  case  he  had  visited  the  - ♦ —  Hospital  and 

while  there  made  inquiry  of  some  doctor  at  said  hospital  and 
was  told  ‘There  was  nothing  to  it.’ 

“14.  Agent  has  heard  of  the  case  through  others  not  men¬ 
tioned  herein  and  is  continuing  investigation  and  will  make  fur¬ 
ther  report.” 

The  above  is  perhaps  a  unique  instance  of  a  determined  pursuit 
of  a  rumor  to  its  origin.  It  failed  completely. 

No  one  seems  to  know  who  starts  these  stories.  But  the  guilt 
of  those  who  pass  them  along  is  all  the  greater,  seeing  that  a  little 
investigation  will  ordinarily  disprove  them.  To  be  both  credulous 
and  garrulous  in  matters  of  such  moment  is  an  offense  against  the 
country. 


By  Dissension 


133 


A  new  and  laudable  movement  is  seen  in  an  organization  by 
the  suffrage  leaders  in  New  York.  They  are  forming  women  police 
reserves  who  are  to  go  from  house  to  house  helping  to  educate  the 
people  and  counteract  German  propaganda. 

PROPAGANDA  BY  ATTACKS  ON  MORALS. 

Of  this  ugly  warfare,  a  prominent  official  has  said: 

“We  ascertained  that  in  certain  sections  of  the  country  re¬ 
ports  had  been  circulated  concerning  the  morality  of  the  French 
people,  particularly  the  people  whose  homes  are  in  the  vicinity  of 
American  overseas  camps.  The  French  women  were  painted  as 
moral  lepers,  and  the  men  as  little  better.  The  German  agents 
whispered  these  lies  in  various  parts  of  the  country  with  the 
result  that  thousands  of  good  American  fathers  and  mothers 
became  uneasy  as  to  the  moral  safety  of  their  soldier  sons  in 
France.  The  Germans  followed  these  stories  with  others  to  the 
effect  that  the  morale  and  health  of  the  American  troops  under 
General  Pershing  had  been  destroyed  as  a  result  of  the  ravages 
of  disease.  A  more  devilish  libel  was  never  perpetrated,  and 
this  is  proved  by  the  facts  in  possession  of  the  Government.” 

This  last  statement  flatters  the  Germans,  and  robs  numerous 
American  slanderers  of  their  due.  It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that  a 
branch  organization  of  one  of  the  leading  American  Protestant 
churches  encouraged  its  lecturers  to  promulgate,  and  issued  pub¬ 
lications  promulgating,  stories  to  the  effect  that  vice  was  rampant 
in  the  ranks  of  our  soldiers  in  France,  and  that  conditions  of  drunk¬ 
enness  were  general.  In  the  stories  which  thi^  organization  put 
out,  American  fathers  and  mothers  were  told  that  their  sons  were 
being  debauched  in  France.  The  matter  was  printed,  and  was  so 
grotesque  in  its  character  that  belief  in  it  was  seemingly  impos¬ 
sible  by  any  person  of  mental  balance,  but  that  it  would  work  harm 
among  the  unthinking  was  manifest. 

This  matter  was  taken  up  with  the  military  authorities  in 
France  and  with  certain  authorities  in  the  United  States.  The 
Chaplains,  irrespective  of  denomination,  serving  the  troops  in 
France,  collectively  denied  the  stories  of  vice  and  drunkenness,  and 
General  Pershing  in  an  official  communication  to  the  War  Depart¬ 
ment,  entered  specific  denial  on  his  own  behalf. 

THE  ATTACK  ON  RED  CROSS  NURSES. 

Peculiarly  loathsome  has  been  the  effort  to  discredit  the  Red 
Cross  and  its  splendid  women.  This  reached  such  proportions  that 
it  was  taken  up  in  the  courts  of  New  York.  The  account  in  the 
Times  of  May  10,  1918,  discloses  various  phases  of  it: 


134 


Propaganda 


“The  Federal  Grand  Jury  for  the  Southern  District  of  New 
York  handed  a  presentment  to  Judge  Augustus  N.  Hand  on  May 
9,  1918,  regarding  the  source  of  truthfulness  of  certain  stories 
which  have  been  circulated  in  this  country,  ‘to  the  effect,’  as  the 
presentment  put  it,  ‘that  frightful  and  scandalous  conditions  at¬ 
tend  the  Red  Cross  nurses  in  the  American  Army  Hospitals  in 
France.’ 

“These  vicious  reports  are  believed  to  be  a  part  of  the  wide¬ 
spread  German  ‘whispering’  propaganda,  the  purpose  being  to 
create  dissension  among  the  people  in  America,  as  well  as  to 
frighten  the  women  so  that  they  will  not  enter  the  overseas 
nursing  service. 

“The  Grand  Jury  investigation  was  undertaken  by  order  of 
the  Government  for  #  the  two-fold  purpose  of  identifying,  if  pos¬ 
sible,  the  source  of  the  propaganda,  and  to  make  the  falsity  and 
viciousness  of  the  report  a  matter  of  court  record.  The  Grand  Jury, 
the  foreman  of  which  is  W.  DeS.  Trenholm,  investigated  various 
stories  which  have  been  widely  repeated,  not  only  in  New  York 
but  all  over  the  country,  and  cites  in  its  presentment  as  typical 
one  ‘reported  to  have  been  made  at  Vassar  College  by  Dr.  Emma 
B.  Culbertson,  senior  surgeon  of  the  New  England  College  for 
Women  and  Children  at  Boston.’ 

“In  substance  this  story,  the  Grand  Jury  says,  was  as  follows: 
It  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  200  beds  had  been 
reserved  in  the  Sloane  Maternity  Hospital,  New  York  City,  for 
Red  Cross  nurses  who  were  returning  from  France  and  expect¬ 
ing  immediate  confinement. 

“This  statement,  the  presentment  claimed,  was  called  to  the 
attention  of  this  Grand  Jury  on  the  ground  that  if  the  state¬ 
ments  were  true,  the  failure  of  the  military  authorities  properly 
to  safeguard  the  nurses  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  Army 
abroad,  would  constitute  gross  neglect,  and  accordingly  it  would 
be  the  duty  of  the  Grand  Jury  to  call  upon  the  proper  authorities 
to  take  the  ‘requisite  and  necessary  steps  to  correct  such  evil 
conditions,  etc. 

“The  investigation  of  the  report,  the  Grand  Jury  adds,  shows, 
‘that  the  said  Dr.  Emma  B.  Culbertson  on  January  17,  1918,  pub¬ 
licly  made  a  statement  at  Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  in 
substance  and  effect  that  it  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge 
that  200  beds  in  the  Sloane  Maternity  Hospital,  New  York  City, 
had  been  reserved  for  Red  Cross  Nurses  who  were  returning 
from  France  and  expecting  immediate  confinement,  which  state¬ 
ment  was  absolutely  disproved  by  the  authorities  of  that  hos¬ 
pital;  that  said  Emma  B.  Culbertson  had  absolutely  no  knowledge 
or  information  upon  which  to  base  said  statement,  and  that  said 
statement  was  wholly  and  entirely  without  foundation,  and  does 
further  present  that  no  Red  Cross  nurse  has  returned  to  this 
country  from  foreign  service  in  such  condition. 

“  ‘The  Grand  Jury  further  present  that  the  said  Emma  B.  Cul¬ 
bertson  herself  now  believes  that  she  has  been  misinformed  as 
to  the  matters  contained  in  the  statement  made  by  her  and  re¬ 
grets  that  she  has  been  a  party  to  the  dissemination  of  a  false 
statement. 

“  ‘The  Grand  Jury  further  present  that  the  said  Emma  B.  Cul¬ 
bertson  did  not  wilfully  make  said  statement  with'  the  intent  to 
interfere  with  the  operation  and  success  of  the  military  and  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States,  or  to  obstruct  the  American  Red 
Cross  in  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  of  nurses  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States.’ 


By  Dissension 


135 


“Another  story,  which  is  also  German  propaganda,  involved 
the  mutilation  and  outraging  of  two  young  Belgian  women.  This 
was  also  found  to  be  false  from  beginning  to  end. 

“  ‘The  Grand  Jury,’  the  presentment  concludes,  ‘further  pre¬ 
sents  that  it  deplores  the  tendency  shown  by  the  public  in  gen¬ 
eral  to  give  ready  ear  to  and  repeat  stories  and  reports  of  a  sen¬ 
sational  and  scandalous  nature  and  character  affecting  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Red  Cross  and  its  nurses,  for  the  reason  that  such  stories 
and  reports  not  only  seriously  interfere  with  the  recruiting  of 
nurses  for  service  abroad,  but  also  have  a  tendency  to  create 
public  distrust  in  the  American  Red  Cross,  and  are  detrimental 
to  the  army  activities  it  is  carrying  on  to  alleviate  the  unspeak¬ 
able  condition  due  to  the  war.’ 

‘“After  the  presentment  was  filed,  Judge  Hand  addressed  the 
jury  and  made  it  plain  that  the  time  had  come  to  handle  in  most 
drastic  fashion  persons  who  circulate  such  stories  as  those  in¬ 
vestigated  by  the  jury.  A  person  who  repeats  such  stories,  with¬ 
out  investigating  to  ascertain  the  truth  or  falsity  of  them, 
Judge  Hand  added,  should  be  held  as  making  them  wilfully  and 
knowingly.  After  a  reference  to  the  remarks  Miss  Culbertson  is 
alleged  to  have  made  at  Vassar,  Judge  Hand  continued: 

“  ‘This  statement,  your  presentment  shows,  or  statements  that 
are  equivalent  to  it,  have  been  circulated  in  various  cities  and 
towns  throughout  the  United  States;  it  indicates  on  its  face 
some  deliberate  propaganda  from  some  malevolent  source  that  is 
inimical  to  our  institutions. 

“  ‘The  Espionage  Act  covers  exactly  this  sort  of  thing  unless 
it  is  innocent.  If  it  is  wilful  and  knowing,  the  Espionage 
Act  covers  it,  and  a  jury  or  Grand  Jury  is  justified,  in  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  anything  else,  in  inferring  knowledge  and  wilfulness 
from  lack  of  foundation  and  recklessness  in  the  statements 
themselves. 

“  ‘You  have  investigated  this  particular  statement:  I  know  the 
substantial  and  representative  body  of  men  that  you  are  from  this 
community,  and  I  am  not  in  any  way  suggesting  that  your 
presentment  in  regard  to  this  particular  matter  and  this  particu¬ 
lar  physician  is  not  correct.  I  am  confident  that  you  have  satis¬ 
fied  yourselves  that  she  did  make  this  statement  at  Yassar  Col¬ 
lege  in  good  faith,  but  in  future  matters  which  come  to  your  at¬ 
tention,  I  will  remind  you  that  where  the  statement  is  utterly 
reckless,  and  proves  to  be  utterly  without  foundation,  in  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  any  adequate  explanation  on  the  part  of  the  person 
making  the  statement,  it  would  be  justifiable  to  find  that  it  was 
wilful  and  knowing.  A  statement  like  this,  which  after  inves¬ 
tigation  you  have  found  to  be  utterly  without  foundation;  which 
after  the  reports  and  testimony  of  representatives  of  the  Sloane 
Hospital,  you  have  found  had  not  a  scintilla  of  evidence  back  of 
it,  is  a  thing  to  be  deprecated  and  severely  censured  by  the 
court. 

“  ‘That  a  person  should  come  to  a  place  which  is  a  seminary, 
a  college  for  the  education  of  young  women  who  are  eager,  many 
of  them  to  go  abroad  to  act  as  nurses  for  the  Red  Cross,  and 
circulate  such  a  harebrained  statement  as  this  in  the  presence  of 
thesd  young  women,  that  would  alarm  the  authorities  of  the 
college,  that  would  discourage  their  enlistment  as  nurses,  is  a 
most  reprehensible  and  disgraceful  thing. 

“  ‘The  American  people  have  been  very  tolerant  in  these  mat¬ 
ters,  and  I  think  it  is  greatly  to  their  credit  that  they  have,  but 


136 


Propaganda 


the  time  has  certainly  come  when  people  who  utter  falsehoods, 
make  statements  without  the  slightest  foundation  which  they 
have  picked  up  on  the  curbstone  in  the  street  and  then  give 
them  out  in  some  public  place,  not  knowing  whether  they  are 
true  or  not,  and  choosing  to  believe  them  or  give  them  out  either 
for  notoriety  or  for  some  reason  which  we  cannot  fathom,  the 
time  has  certainly  come  when  those  people  are  going  to  be  held 
responsible  by  juries  in  our  courts  of  law. 

“  ‘The  juries  have  been  tolerant  in  the  past  because  they  did 
not  want  to  believe  evil  of  any  one — but  undoubtedly  statements 
of  this  kind  emanate  from  some  source  which  is  engaged  in  a 
deliberate  and  unfriendly  propaganda,  and  it  is  certainly  proper 
for  the  court  to  say  here  that  the  people  in  this  community  and 
every  other  community  ought  to  take  warning  and  to  remember 
that  when  men  in  this  country  are  sacrificing  their  lives;  when 
women  are  going  to  the  front  to  act  as  nurses;  when  mothers 
are  parting  with  their  sons  and  wives  with  their  husbands;  when, 
as  I  saw  up  in  Vermont  the  other  day  at  a  little  college  that  I 
attended,  about  two-thirds  of  the  senior  class  who  were  already 
engaged  in  military  service,  the  least  people  can  do  who  attempt 
to  speak  about  matters  relating  to  this  war  is  to  pay  some  kind 
of  attention  to  the  facts  and  to  know  what  they  are  talking  about, 
and  not  make  statements  and  criticisms  and  spread  wild  rumors 
that  are  utterly  unfounded  in  a  perfectly  irresponsible  way. 
If  they  do  it  in  the  future  they  may  expect  indictments  and  they 
may  expect  trials,  and  they  may  be  pretty  certain  of  conviction.’  ” 

PROPAGANDA  CONCERNING  CAMP  CONDITIONS. 

A  typical  case  of  malicious  rumor  with  manifest  purpose  is  this : 

A  man  who  registered  at  a  Washington  hotel  in  March,  1918, 
from  Pittsburgh,  told  several  persons  that  his  son  had  written  him 
saying  that  the  men  in  Camp  Lee,  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  were 
mutinous  on  account  of  conditions,  lack  of  uniforms,  rifles,  etc. 
He  mentioned  the  319th  and  320th  regiments  as  actually  ready 
to  revolt. 

This  story,  with  its  circumstantial  mention  of  names  and  regi¬ 
ments,  made  a  natural  stir.  It  reached  the  ears  of  an  army  officer, 
who  made  an  investigation.  The  Commanding  Officer  of  the  divi¬ 
sion  replied  that  there  were  no  such  regiments  at  the  camp,  and  no 
lack  of  equipment. 

"the  one  hundred  and  one  lies/' 

Swarms  of  lies  have  buzzed  about  the  country  to  encourage 
opposition  to  the  draft,  distress  the  families  of  soldiers  and  con¬ 
vince  the  public  of  the  inability  of  the  United  States  to  raise  an 
army,  to  transport  it  across  the  ocean,  to  equip  it  or  to  protect  it 
from  evil.  From  a  booklet  with  the  above  title  a  few  more  mav  be 
quoted : 


%  Dissension 


137 


“  ‘You  have  met  him,  Mr.  Commercial  Traveler,’  says  a  book¬ 
let  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information,  ‘and  so  have  you,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Civilian. 

“‘Who?  The  “clacker,”  the  “gossip,”  the  “inside  information 
chap,”  the  “Kaiserite”  or  whatever  you  choose  to  call  the  person 
who  spread  wild  rumors  and  tales  which  are  effective  pro-German 
propaganda. 

“  ‘Therefore  the  book  of  “one  hundred  and  one  lies,”  and  the 
book  might  have  contained  “one  thousand  and  one”  if  that  were 
necessary.  For  the  stories  encountered  and  “run  down”  as  false 
are  as  numerous  and  fanciful  as  those  of  the  Arabian  Nights. 

“  ‘The  itemized  lies  were  “nailed”  by  actual  investigation  by 
representatives  of  the  St.  Louis  Republic.  They  were  printed 
by  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  with  their  refutation, 
for  the  use  of  commercial  travelers,  because  smoking  cars  and 
Pullman  cars  have  been  favorite  stamping  grounds  for  the 
Kaiser’s  agents  or  those  who  unwittingly  pass  along  the  stories 
that  originally  were  whispered  by  a  German  worker. 

“  ‘Some  are  absurd,  like  “Lie  No.  1,”  which  is  that  Joseph  P.  Tu¬ 
multy,  secretary  to  the  President,  was  found  guilty  of  treason 
and  sent  to  Fort  Leavenworth,  for  intelligent  folks  can  ascertain 
that  Mr.  Tumulty  still  is  meeting  all  callers  at  the  White  House. 

“  ‘Others  are  of  the  sort  that  skeptics  and  cynics  are  apt  to 
seize  upon,  and  the  refutation  cannot  be  made  so  obvious.  Such 
are  “lies  Nos.  2  and  4,”  which  state  that  sweaters  knit  for  soldiers 
in  France  have  been  sold  by  Red  Cross  workers  and  that  tobacco 
collected  through  various  agencies  as  gifts  to  men  overseas  has 
been  sold  to  them  instead.  Nothing  handled  by  the  Red  Cross  is 
sold,  and  the  agencies  which  collected  tobacco  funds  have  traced 
the  tobacco  to  France  and  ascertained  that  it  was  given  away, 
as  intended. 

“  ‘Here  are  a  few  other  “lies,”  some  of  which  could  only  gain 
circulation  among  the  credulous  in  backwoods  communities  and 
others  which  have  been  whispered  in  Washington: 

“  ‘  “That  no  soldier  or  sailor,  after  he  leaves  American  soil,  is 
permitted  to  write  home. 

“‘“That  Base  Hospital  Unit  (Washington  University)  No.  21 
had  been  annihilated  while  en  route  overseas,  or  that  leading 
members  of  the  organization  had  been  executed  as  spies  by  the 
American  government. 

“  ‘  “That  canned  goods  put  up  by  housewives  were  to  be  seized 
by  the  Government  and  appropriated  for  the  use  of  the  Army 
and  Navy. 

“  ‘  “That  the  Pullman  Company  will  not  hire  a  man  who  does 
not  wear  a  button  showing  he  has  contributed  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
war  fund. 

“  ‘That  all  the  ‘plums’  at  the  officers’  training  camps  fall  to 
Roman  Catholics.” 

“  ‘This  one  is  familiar  but  has  a  new  dress  this  time: 

“  ‘  “That  a  mother  sent  her  son  at  a  training  camp  a  big  birth¬ 
day  cake  and  then  wrote  asking  him  how  he  liked  it.  He  re¬ 
plied  that  he  had  never  seen  the  cake,  but  that  he  had  passed  an 
officer’s  tent  and  had  seen  him  eating  it. 

“  ‘  “The  sweater  story  about  the  $10  bill  sewed  into  its  fabric 
which  the  pro-Germans  say  the  Red  Cross  sold  has  appeared  this 
time  in  Jefferson  City.  Man  told  Missouri  council  of  defense  of 
the  lie.” 

“  ‘And  there  are  many  more  of  the  same  sort,  ranging  from 


138 


Propaganda 


one  circulated  in  the  West  that  10,000  Englishmen  are  in  Colorado 
waiting  until  Uncle  Sam  sends  all  his  soldiers  and  equipment  to 
France,  when  they  will  seize  the  United  States  and  annex  it  to 
Great  Britain,  to  the  rumor,  also  spread  in  the  Middle  West, 
that  the  Government  will  confiscate  all  the  money  deposited  in 
national  banks.’  ” 


THE  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

It  was  discovered  that  some  accredited  representatives  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  who  were  serving  abroad  almost  within  the  field  of 
operations,  were  doing  what  they  could  to  dampen  the  ardor  of 
the  American  troops  by  preaching  to  them  a  species  of  pacifism 
which,  if  it  were  effective,  would  destroy  the  morale  of  our  soldiers. 
The  vast  majority  of  the  representatives  of  this  great  beneficent 
institution  were  loyal,  but  the  few  who  were  preaching  their  par¬ 
ticular  pacifist  doctrines  unquestionably  were  injuring  the  cause 
of  their  country. 

It  was  desired  that  the  matter  should  be  handled  so  as  to  avoid 
extreme  publicity  or  scandal  in  any  form.  The  course  was  adopted 
of  taking  the  matter  up  with  the  heads  of  the  institution,  putting 
the  facts  of  the  case  before  them  with  the  names  of  the  accused 
and  presenting  therewith  convincing  proofs  of  the  truth  of  the 
charges.  The  officials  of  the  organization  at  once  removed  from 
their  positions  the  disloyal  ones  and  instituted  a  new  system  by  which 
no  one  can  enter  the  service  of  the  organization  until  his  loyalty 
to  his  country  and  to  his  organization  definitely  is  proven. 

This  matter,  which  was  a  serious  one,  proves  that  there  is  no 
group  so  patriotic  or  so  honorable  in  its  objects  or  the  body  of 
its  membership  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  propaganda.  There 
is  none  which  can  safely  be  omitted  from  observation. 

PROPAGANDA  FOR  AN  IMPERFECT  PEACE. 

The  policies  and  past  activities  of  the  nation  -have  suffered 
misrepresentation  in  every  phase.  Propaganda  is  also  constantly 
at  work  to  shape  our  future  policies,  and  to  incline  the  country 
to ‘accept  a  makeshift  peace  not  worth  the  price  already  paid  for  it. 

A  consideration  of  this  method  of  attack  with  the  citation  of 
a  well  masked  instance  of  it,  is  given  by  Jerome  Land  field  in  the 
San  Francisco  Bulletin  of  March  30,  1918: 

"With  the  declaration  of  war  by  America,  German  propa¬ 
ganda  did  not  cease  here;  it  only  became  more  cautious.  Per¬ 
haps  it  is  all  the  more  dangerous  on  that  account,  for  its  earlier 
character  was  so  bold  and  rough  as  to  nullify  some  of  its  ef- 


By  Dissension 


139 


fects,  whereas  the  present  propaganda  is  far  more  insidious. 

The  -  editorials,  for  example,  were  far  less  noxious  when 

they  came  out  boldly  for  Germany  than  when  they  conceal 
the  venom  of  an  attack  on  England  beneath  a  veneer  of  florid 
patriotic  utterance. 

“There  is  no  greater  danger  today  than  the  widely  spread 
idea  that  somehow  or  other  we  can  get  out  of  the  war  as  soon 
as  Germany  meets  our  particular  terms  and  satisfies  the  imme¬ 
diate  demands  in  regard  to  our  maritime  rights,  the  violation 
of  which  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  our  coming  into  the 
war.  It  is  along  this  line  that  Germany’s  agents  in  this  coun¬ 
try  work. 

“We  know  that  German  agents  in  our  airplane  factories  have 
hollowed  out  steel  braces  and  filled  them  with  lead,  so  that  they 
would,  break  during  a  flight  and  kill  our  aviators.  Many  a 
brave  young  American  has  already  fallen  to  his  death  as  a 
result  of  these  dastardly  outrages.  But  even  this  is  a  trifle 
compared  with  the  damage  wrought  by  those  other  agents  who 
are  spreading  propaganda  poison  throughout  the  country. 

“I  have  just  been  reading  a  pamphlet  in  which  a  lot  of  this 
noxious  material  is  well  concealed  behind  an  apparently  harm¬ 
less  and  reasonable  exterior.  It  is  entitled  ‘Business  Condi¬ 
tions’  and  purports  to  be  ‘The  Monthly  Letter  of  the  Alexander 
Hamilton  Institute.’  Let  me  quote  a  few  sentences  from  it: 

“  ‘President  Wilson  has  also  abandoned  his  demands  for  no 
annexation  and  the  self-determination  of  governments  by  peo¬ 
ples.  This  was  necessary  to  harmonize  our  aims  in  the  war 
with  those  of  France,  Italy,  and  Great  Britain.  France  desires 
to  annex  Alsace-Lorraine,  and  Italy  demands  part  of  Austria. 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  who  are  assuming  large  respon¬ 
sibilities  in  the  war,  desire  that  Germany  be  restricted  in  her 
operations  in  Arabia  and  Africa.  If  President  Wilson  had  in¬ 
sisted  that  France  and  Italy  fight  without  expecting  to  annex 
territory,  it  would  have  left  them  nothing  to  fight  for;  and 
since  it  is  important  that  all  the  Allies  should  co-operate  until 
victory  is  won,  our  Government  has  approved  the  annexation 
of  territory  by  the  Allies.' 

“It  hardly  seems  necessary  to  comment  on  this  vile  dose  of 
poison,  the  purport  is  so  self-evident.  To  speak  of  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  France  or  the  union  of  the  Italian 
.  Trentino  and  Trieste  to  Italy  as  annexation  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  word  was  used  by  President  Wilson  is  to  endeavor  to  mis¬ 
lead  deliberately  and  maliciously.  The  whole  idea  of  the  vicious 
paragraph  is,  of  course,  to  convey  the  idea  that  our  Allies  are 
in  the  war  for  purely  selfish  and  sordid  motives  and  that  they 
are  on  the  same  plane  as  Germany. 

“The  pamphlet  then  goes  on  to  say: 

“  ‘The  chief  aim  of  the  United  States  in  the  war  is  to  put  a 
stop  forever  to  Germany’s  methods  of  submarine  warfare.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  are  in  the  war  mainly  for  this  pur¬ 
pose.  *  *  *  Whether  territory  is  annexed  or  whether  all 
races  are  permitted  to  determine  their  own  government  are  mat¬ 
ters  of  secondary  importance.  *  *  *  The  country  will  ap¬ 

prove  the  action  of  the  President  in  compromising  some  of  his 
subordinate  demands  if  this  shall  avoid  friction  among  the  Al¬ 
lies,  hasten  the  beginning  of  peace  negotiations,  and  prevent 
unnecessary  bloodshed.  Let  us  always  keep  in  mind  that  our 
chief  aim  in  the  war  is  to  establish  humane  methods  in  war¬ 
fare  and  just  principles  of  international  law.’  ” 


140 


Propaganda 


A  better  statement  of  the  attitude  of  the  Allies  toward  Germany 
could  not  be  better  made  than  the  following  editorial  from  the 
Washington  Star  of  June  26 ,  1918: 

“Dr.  von  Kuehlmann,  the  German  foreign  secretary,  stated 
the  case  with  remarkable  precision  and  clearness  in  the  Reich¬ 
stag  Monday  when  he  said: 

“  ‘For  so  long  as  every  overture  is  regarded  by  others  as  a 
peace  offensive — as  a  trap  or  as  something  false  for  the  purpose 
of  sowing  disunion  between  allies;  so  long  as  every  attempt  of  a 
rapprochement  is  at  once  violently  denounced  by  the  enemies  of 
a  rapprochement  in  the  various  countries,  so  long  will  it  be 
impossible  to  see  how  any  exchange  of  ideas  leading  to  peace 
can  be  begun.’ 

“Really  some  progress  has  been  made  toward  understanding 
if  the  German  spokesman  has  reached  the  point  of  appreciating 
that  the  allies  look  with  incredulity  upon  German  talk  of  peace, 
with  suspicion  upon  German  suggestions  of  terms,  with  positive 
distrust  upon  German  pretensions  of  desire  to  arrange  amicably 
for  the  end  of  the  war. 

“Dr.  Kuehlmann  urges  that  one  of  the  preliminary  conditions 
of  the  real  peace  approach  ‘must  be  certain  degrees  of  mutual 
confidence  in  each  other’s  honesty  and  chivalry.’  Let  it  be  ac¬ 
cepted  as  a  basic  fact  in  this  present  deadlock  of  war  that  none 
of  the  entente  powers  today  has  the  least  confidence  in  Ger¬ 
many’s  ‘honesty  and  chivalry.’  If  peace  cannot  come  until  the 
allied  powers  approach  the  table  of  conference  with  trust  in  those 
qualities  on  the  part  of  Germany  the  war  must  go  on  and  on. 

“Germany  has  forfeited  all  claims  to  confidence  and  trust. 
Violating  every  canon  of  decency,  every  law  of  international  re¬ 
lationship,  every  rule  of  war,  Germany  today  stands  exposed  in  a 
hideous  nakedness  of  dishonor.  No  form  of  words,  no  belated 
show  of  repentance  or  reform  can  win  condonement  by  the  allies. 

“If  hope  persists  at  Berlin  that  England,  France,  Italy  and  the 
United  States  can  be  cajoled  or  wearied  into  peace  maneuvers 
on  the  basis  of  agreement  with  Germany  as  a  power  of  equal 
negotiations,  the  amazing  self-delusion  that  has  beset  Germany 
from  the  beginning  still  prevails,  a  delusion  that  has  cost  the 
world  the  greatest  penalty  it  has  ever  paid,  a  penalty  that  will 
have  been  a  wicked  waste  if  it  does  not  lead  to  permanent 
protection  from  an  evil  power  seeking  dominion  by  force.” 

Commenting  on  the  same  speech  the  Daily  Chronicle  of  Lon¬ 
don  said : 


“Nothing  that  the  Allies  could  pretend,  no  self-deception  in 
which  they  might  be  led  to  acquiesce,  could  render  the  present 
German  Government  ‘capable  of  covenanted  faith,’  while  its  hands 
are  foul  with  the  pollution  of  hundreds  of  perfidies  and  dripping 
with  the  blood  of  millions  shed  in  an  unprovoked,  and  as  yet 
unrepented,  war. 

“The  Daily  News  says  that  Kuehlmann,  in  laying  down  the 
condition  which  excludes  Alsace-Lorraine  from  discussion,  rejects 
the  condition  which  is  the  irreducible  minimum  of  the  British 
case,  ‘but,’  it  adds,  ‘we  have  to  discount  heavily  the  terms  put 
forward  in  the  open.  It  is  something  to  have  reached  a  stage 
at  which  Germany  admits  that  no  military  decision  can  settle 
the  war.  That  is  the  beginning  of  the  will  to  peace.” 


CHAPTEK  VII. 


THE  ESPIONAGE  ACT. 


The  Department  of  Justice  has  issued  a  series  of  bulletins  called 
"Interpretations  of  War  Statutes.”  These  mainly  contain  the 
charges  to  juries  by  judges  of  the  United  States  District  Courts. 
A  study  of  them  shows  the  difficulty  faced  by  the  judges  in  per¬ 
suading  themselves  or  the  juries  that  propaganda  was  punishable 
under  the  terms  of  the  Espionage  Act  of  June  15,  1917. 

Without  financial  backing  the  war  could  not  go  on.  Funds 
must  be  raised  some  way.  The  hostile  spirits  would  have,  of  course, 
attacked  any  available  method  of  funding  the  war.  They  naturally 
turned  all  their  guns  on  the  method  adopted. 

A  number  of  men  of  high  position  used  all  their  powers  of 
eloquence  or  obstruction  to  prevent  or  to  discredit  the  sale  of  bonds. 
Later,  they  and  their  less  conspicuous  disciples  did  their  best  to 
make  the  sale  a  failure.  The  favorite  charge,  of  course,  was  the 
old  crv  of  "Wall  Street.”  Everything  about  the  war  has  been 
labeled  "Wall  Street”  by  the  enemies  of  its  success. 

The  opponents  of  the  Liberty  Loans  and  the  War  Savings 
Stamps  have  been  harshly  dealt  with  in  many  neighborhoods,  num¬ 
erous  individuals  being  tarred  and  feathered,  painted  yellow,  horse¬ 
whipped  and  compelled  to  purchase  what  they  derided. 

The  Department  of  Justice  Bulletin  No.  56  contains  the  charge 
to  the  jury  on  February  1,  1918,  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court,  Dis¬ 
trict  of  Colorado,  in  the  case  of  one  W.  B.  Tanner.  Tanner,  it 
was  charged,  did,  in  November,  1917,  at  Sterling,  Colo.,  under 
Section  3,  Title  1,  of  the  Espionage  Act,  "feloniously  and  wilfully 
attempt  to  cause  disloyalty,  insubordination,  mutiny,  and  refusal 
of  duty  in  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the  U.  S.,  to  the  injury 
of  the  U.  S.,”  and  in  the  presence  of  various  persons  had  stated  in 
substance:  "There  is  no  security  behind  the  Liberty  Bonds.  The 
conservation  of  food  is  all  bosh.  As  soon  as  the  capitalists  on  Wall 
Street  have  all  the  money  they  want  this  war  will  be  over  in  24 
hours.”  Also  he  stated  before  other  witnesses  :  "The  Liberty  Bonds 
will  only  be  worth  50  cents  on  the  dollar  within  two  years.  The  first 
thing  we  ought  to  do  after  Congress  meets  is  to  impeach  that 
Wilson.  Talk  about  being  under  the  Kaiser.  Well,  it  is  a  whole 
lot  worse  over  here  in  this  country.  England  and  France  will  be 

141 


142  Propaganda 

forced  to  quit.  The  United  States  will  have  to  come  down  off  her 
high  horse/’ 

The  Court  dealt  very  closely  with  the  claim  that  such  language 
brought  the  defendant  within  roach  of  the  Espionage  Act: 

“The  defendant  can  not  be  convicted  on  any  of  these  counts 
unless  you  find  from  the  evidence,  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt, 
that  he  has  committed,  in  the  manner  charged  against  him,  the 
specific  crime  charged  against  him — the  one  defined  in  the  stat¬ 
ute  on  which  the  indictment  is  based.  There  is  more  than 
one  element  in  each  of  these  crimes.  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
convict  the  defendant  on  any  or  all  of  these  counts,  to  simply 
show  that  he  uttered  the  language,  the  substance  of  which  is 
set  forth  in  the  indictment  and  testified  to  by  some  of  the  wit¬ 
nesses;  but  before  you  can  convict  him  on  the  first  and  third 
counts  you  must  believe  from  the  evidence,  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt,  that  in  the  uttering  of  that  language  on  the  occasion  in 
question  he  willfully  caused  or  attempted  to  cause  insubordina¬ 
tion,  disloyalty,  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to  the  injury  of  the  United 
States.  Likewise  on  the  second  and  fourth  counts.  He  can  not 
be  convicted  on  either  of  these  counts  by  simply  showing  that 
he  uttered  the  language  charged  against  him  or  the  substance 
of  that  language  on  the  two  occasions  in  question;  but  you 
must  further  find  and  believe  from  the  evidence,  beyond  a  rea¬ 
sonable  doubt,  that  in  the  utterance  of  that  language  he  did 
willfully  obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of  the 
United  States  to  the  injury  of  the  service  or  of  the 
United  States.  That  is  to  say,  howsoever  reprehensible  a  criti¬ 
cism  of  the  war  and  the  methods  of  carrying  it  on  may  be,  that 
criticism  is  not  a  violation  of  this  statute  unless,  on  the  one 
hand,  it  is  made  in  an  attempt  to  cause  insubordination,  dis¬ 
loyalty,  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States;  or  unless,  on  the  other  hand,  its 
utterance  obstructs  the  recruiting  and  enlistment  service  of  the 
United  States  to  the  injury  of  that  service.” 

Bulletin  58  contains  a  similar  charge  by  the  U.  S.  District 
Court  for  the  District  of  Wyoming  in  the  case  against  one  Wih 
liam  Hahn,,  who  made  a  large  number  of  very  familiar  remarks 
to  the  effect  that — 

“the  American  people  should  not  believe  anything  contained  in 
the  newspapers  published  in  English  in  the  United  States;  that 
the  said  newspapers  were  full  of  lies  about  the  war  and  about 
Germany;  that  the  only  true  facts  published  in  newspapers  of 
this  country  were  in  the  newspapers  published  in  the  German 
language;  that  President  Wilson  had  been  in  favor  of  the  Allies 
ever  since  the  war  commenced  in  1914;  that  President  Wilson 
had  been  paid  huge  sums  of  money  for  aiding  the  Allies;  that 
President  Wilson  had  gone  into  the  war  for  a  huge  sum  of 
money;  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  not  fighting 
this  war  for  their  own  country,  but  for  the  millionaires  and 
the  rich  people;  that  President  Wilson  had  never  intended  to 
have  any  war  with  Mexico  or  to  use  any  troops  in  this  country, 
but  that  the  American  army  had  been  gathered  at  the  border 


The  Espionage  Act 


143 


between  Mexico  and  the  United  States  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
training  them  to  fight  against  Germany;  that  the  United  States, 
even  with  the  aid  of  all  the  European  countries,  could  never 
defeat  the  German  army;  that  Germany  is  right  in  its  conten¬ 
tions  and  that  the  United  States  is  wrong;  that  the  United 
States  has  no  right  to  send  troops  to  Europe;  that  draft  riots 
will  occur;  that  if  he  were  a  young  man  he  would  cut  his  trig¬ 
ger  finger  off  before  he  would  go  to  fight  the  Germans.” 

In  the  course  of  its  charge  this  court  stated : 

“It  is  not  necessary  to  show  that  the  statements  made  actu¬ 
ally  brought  about  insubordination  or  disloyalty,  but  it  is  quite 
sufficient  to  warrant  a  conviction  if  you  believe  from  the  evi¬ 
dence  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  defendant  made  the 
statements,  or  any  of  them,  in  an  attempt  to  cause  insubordina¬ 
tion  or  disloyalty  and  with  the  intent  to  bring  about  that  re¬ 
sult.  In  other  words,  you  can  only  generally  determine  what 
is' in  a  person’s  mind  by  external  manifestations;  and  in  deter¬ 
mining  the  question  of  intent  of  the  defendant  in  this  case  you 
have  the  right  to  take  into  consideration  not  only  the  direct  evi¬ 
dence  bearing  thereon,  if  any,  but  all  the  facts  and  circum¬ 
stances  surrounding  the  defendant  in  this  transaction,  so  far 
as  they  may  be  disclosed  by  the  evidence,  including  in  the  case 
the  words  that  the  evidence  shows  were  in  fact  actually  used 
by  the  defendant.  *  *  * 

“The  case  is  important  to  the  defendant  because  he  stands 
here  charged  with  a  serious  offense  against  the  United  States, 
and  if  the  evidence  fails  to  convince  you  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt  that  he  is  guilty  he  is  entitled  to  a  verdict  of  acquittal 
at  your  hands.  On  the  other  hand,  the  case  is  important  to 
the  Government.  The  United  States  is  at  war.  It  is  organiz¬ 
ing  military  forces,  and  it  demands  that  those  forces  and  each 
member  thereof  shall  give  obedience,  loyalty,  and  strict  per¬ 
formance  of  duty  to  the  Government;  and  it  can  not  tolerate 
any  attempt  by  any  one  at  any  time  or  at  any  place  to  cause 
disloyalty,  insubordination,  or  refusal  of  duty.  Such  attempts 
must  be  investigated  by  the  Government;  and  if  the  investi¬ 
gation  justifies  it  the  party  must  be  brought  to  trial,  as  the 
defendant  has  been  brought  to  trial  here.” 

In  the  case  against  Floyd  Ramp,  before  the  United  States  Dis¬ 
trict  Court  in  Oregon,  the  defendant  was  charged  with  haranging, 
in  September,  1917,  a  number  of  men  actually  conscripted  and 
on  their  way  to  camp,  with  words  to  the  effect — 

“that  the  President  boo-hooed  the  people  into  electing  him  on 
the  promise  to  keep  us  out  of  war,  and  now  he  is  worse  than 
the  Czar  of  Russia;  that  to  draft  men  into  military  service  was 
wrong,  and  he,  the  said  defendant,  did  not  believe  in  it;  that 
these  men  *  *  *  may  think  they  are  going  to  fight  for  the 
democracy,  but  they  are  not;  that  they  *  *  *  are  fighting 
for  the  capitalistic  class,  such  as  Rockefeller;  that  to  draft  men 
into  the  army  is  wrong;  I  am  opposed  to  it;  these  men”  (mean¬ 
ing  said  conscripted  men)  “don’t  know  what  they  are  doing; 
that  if  you  knew”  (speaking  to  the  men)  “what  you  are  fight¬ 
ing  for  you  would  not  fight;  that  you”  (meaning  the  men) 


144 


Propaganda 


“are  going  because  you  are  forced  to  by  your  masters;  if  you 
*  *  *  took  a  vote  on  this  train,  two-thirds  of  you  *  *  * 

would  not  vote  to  go;  you  *  *  *  think  you  are  fighting  for 

true  democracy,  but  you  are  not;  you  are  fighting  to  swell  the 
purses  of  your  masters,  and  there  is  no  true  democracy  in  it.” 

Later  he  said  to  the  same  men: 

“Do  you  boys  *  *  *  know  that  you  are  fighting  for  the 
capitalists?  *  *  *  Better  have  a  pick  and  shovel  laboring  for 
the  working  men  instead  of  carrying  a  gun  for  the  capitalists; 
I  won’t  fight  for  the  capitalists.  Are  there  any  I.  W.  W.’s  in 
this  crowd?  If  so,  come  out,  because  you  are  not  fighting  for 
the  poor  man;  you  are  fighting  for  the  rich  man.  I  have  a  lot 
to  talk  to  you  about,  but  you  won’t  let  me  talk.” 

In  this  case  the  Court,  after  showing  the  abridgment  of  the 
rights  of  free  speech  necessary  during  war.*  took  up  the  'question 
of  wilful  intent  and  permitted  evidence  concerning  the  defendant’s 
previous  activities  to  be  introduced,  saying: 

“As  bearing  further  upon  this  subject  of  intent  I  have  per¬ 
mitted  evidence  to  go  to  you  intending  to  show  the  defendant’s 
conduct  and  speech  at  other  times  and  places  previous  to  the 
occurrence  of  the  events  out  of  which  the  charges  against  him 
have  arisen.  I  refer  to  his  deportment  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Honor  Guard  girls  and  at  other  patriotic  meetings  in  Roseburg, 
his  action  in  distributing  leaflets  in  the  restaurant,  and  his  con¬ 
versations  with  different  persons,  all  with  a  view  to  discover¬ 
ing  light  respecting  his  bent  of  mind  and  his  attitude  toward 
the  maintaining  of  military  forces  in  the  United  States.  He 
avows  frankly  his  fervid  attachment  to  the  Socialist  Party,  with 
all  that  that  term  implies,  and  shows  his  utter  opposition  to  all 
war,  and  you  may  look  into  the  whole  of  his  testimony,  along 
with  his  acts  and  conduct  then  and  here,  for  ascertaining  the 
attitude  or  bent  of  his  mind,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  say 
finally  what  his  true  intent  and  purpose  were  in  uttering  the 
language  attributed  to  him  by  the  indictment.  If  he  uttered 
the  language  or  a  substantial  part  of  it,  as  alleged,  and  intended 
thereby  or  attempted  willfully  to  incite  or  cause  to  be  put  in 
operation  the  vices  enumerated  by  the  statute  in  the  military 
forces  of  the  United  States  or  any  of  them,  in  any  degree,  he 
would  be  guilty;  otherwise  not.” 

The  influence  of  agitation  against  the  war  is  vividly  pictured 
in  the  charge  of  Judge  Wade  in  the  Southern  District  of  Iowa, 
in  the  case  against  Daniel  H.  Wallace  (Bulletin  No.  4)  : 

“The  right  of  freedom  of  speech  is  so  sacred  and  had  been  so 
much  abused  in  the  bitter  days  before  the  establishment  of  this 
Government  that  in  the  fundamental  law  they  protected  the  right 
of  free  speech;  but  no  constitution,  no  law,  no  congress  and  no 
legislature  ever  said  that  a  man  could  say  anything  that  he 
wanted  to  and  not  be  responsible  for  what  he  said.  The  man  who 
calls  you  a  thief  and  the  man  who  assaults  your  wife’s  virtue  in 


The  Espionage  Act 


145 


the  streets  is  exercising  his  right  of  free  speech  under  the  Con¬ 
stitution,  but  you  can  compel  him  in  court  to  respond  in  damages 
for  this  invasion  of  your  rights.  The  man  who  publishes  in  the 
newspaper,  under  the  freedom  of  the  press,  a  base  libel  against 
you  or  your  family  is  exercising  his  right  under  the  Constitution, 
but  he  can  be  haled  into  court  and  be  compelled  to  pay  his  last 
penny  for  the  wrong  he  has  done  you,  and  he  can  be  indicted  by 
the  grand  jury  of  the  proper  jurisdiction  and  be  sent  to  prison 
for  the  publication  of  it.  We  ought  not  to  have  any  misconcep¬ 
tion  about  this  matter  of  the  right  of  free  speech.  Men  have 
the  right  to  speak,  no  matter  how  bad  it  is,  but  they  are  respon¬ 
sible  to  the  law  for  the  consequences  if  they  have  invaded  a  man’s 
right  or  violated  the  law  defining  a  crime.  And  so,  as  to  this 
case,  there  is  testimony  offered  here  to  show  that  this  man  made 
a  speech  some  150  times.  Up  to  June  15  this  year,  whether  we 
consider  this  speech  as  violating  every  rule  of  decency,  or  whether 
we  consider  it  entirely  proper,  there  was  no  power  under  the  law  of 
the  United  States  to  punish  him.  Up  to  that  time  he  had  the  right 
of  freedom  of  speech — he  has  it  yet — he  had  it  here  that  night.  He 
is  not  being  tried  here  for  violating  any  law  with  relation  to  the 
freedom  of  speech  except  with  reference  to  this  one  specific  thing. 
Before  this  law  was  approved,  June  15,  1917,  there  wasn’t  any 
law  under  which  this  man  (outside  of  possible  suits  for  injuries, 
if  any  person  was  injured — if  he  was  sued  for  slander)  could  be 
indicted  for  what  he  said;  but  on  June  15  a  new  law  was  passed, 
absolutely  new  to  this  generation  at  least,  and,  so  far  as  I  know, 
new  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Why?  Because  this  country 
had  reached  the  most  tragic  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation. 
Because  we  had,  by  a  vote  of  the  proper  constitutional  authority — 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States — announced  the  existence  of  a 
state  of  war  with  Germany.  From  that  moment  Germany  was  our 
enemy.  It  don’t  make  any  difference  whether  she  was  virtuous 
or  vicious,  she  will  be  our  enemy  until  this  war  is  over,  and  the 
American  people  naturally  must  treat  her  as  an  enemy. 

“Nov/,  the  fortunes,  or  the  fates,  compelled  us — at  least  it  was 
so  recognized  by  the  proper  authorities — and  I  am  speaking  about 
matters  of  common  knowledge  of  which  you  have  a  right  to  take 
notice — has  placed  us  side  by  side  in  this  conflict  with  England, 
France  and  Italy,  with  whom  we  are  from  force  of  circumstances, 
as  we  view  it  at  the  present  time  at  least,  compelled  to  co-operate 
in  this  conflict.  I  want  you  to  get  the  background  at  the  time 
this  speech  was  made,  and  I  want  you  to  consider  the  circum¬ 
stances  under  which  it  was  made.  I  want  you  to  consider  the 
real  elemental  problems  that  the  American  people  had  at  that 
hour  and  have  yet.  Now,  Congress  felt  that  in  order  that  we 
might  prosecute  this  war  properly  and  with  honor  that  there 
must  be  some  law  protecting,  or  rather  prohibiting,  anyone  who 
for  any  reason  or  motive,  no  matter  what,  whether  it  be  for  real 
injuries  he  received  at  the  hands  of  those  people,  no  matter  what, 
prohibiting  every  man  from  in  any  manner  attempting  to  weaken 
the  thing,  the  forces  which  the  Government  has  to  rely  upon  in 
this  war.  It  is  evident,  of  course,  that  that  first  means  men, 
then  money,  and  then  care  of  the  men;  and  you  have  a  right 
to  take  notice  of  the  fact  that  in  the  organization  of  the  Army, 
in  the  raising  of  the  money  and  in  the  care  of  the  men,  because 
these  are  all  matters  of  common  knowledge,  that  certain  organi¬ 
zations  were  used,  utilized  and  relied  upon,  including  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  and  the  Red  Cross.  We  had  to  have  men;  we  had  to  have 


146 


Propaganda 


money;  and  to  get  men  and  money  we  had  to  have  the  proper 
spirit. 

“Well,  Congress  decided  that  they  would  try  to  prohibit  the 
invasion  of  the  right  to  these  things  by  certain  laws,  and  among 
other  things  it  prohibited  two  things — things  which  Congress 
said  constituted  a  crime.  It  did  not  say,  You  shall  not  speak;  but 
it  did  say,  If  you  do  speak  with  a  certain  purpose  and  in  language 
which  would  naturally  be  effective  for  carrying  out  that  purpose, 
you  shall  be  punished.  In  other  words,  it  placed  upon  every 
citizen  in  the  United  States,  whether  he  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  or  of  some  other  country,  the  duty  of  sacrificing 
for  the  time  being  his  right  to  free  speech  or  else  suffer  the  con¬ 
sequences.  And  so,  Congress  passed  a  law  that  ‘whoever,  when 
the  United  States  is  at  war,  shall  wilfully  cause  or  attempt  to 
cause  insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny  or  refusal  of  duty  in 
the  military  or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States’  shall  be  pun¬ 
ished.  Now,  it  doesn’t  say  that  it  must  be  by  speech,  but  it  may 
be  by  word  or  act  or  print,  or  in  any  other  way.  That  provision 
of  that  law  is  involved  in  this  case.  And  Congress  further  enacted 
that  ‘whoever  shall  wilfully  obstruct  the  enlistment  or  recruit¬ 
ing  service  of  the  United  States  to  the  injury  of  the  United 
States’  shall  be  punished.  Now,  that  law  isn’t  very  difficult  to 
understand. 

“This  indictment  here  in  the  first  count  is  based  upon  an  al¬ 
leged  violation  of  the  restriction  I  have  read  first  to  you,  and  the 
second  count  upon  the  restriction  I  read  second.  So,  that  I  say, 
as  I  said  when  I  started  out,  the  simple  question  in  this  case  is 
What  did  this  man  say  down  there  that  night?  And  why  did 
he  say  it?  Now,  experience  in  life  teaches  us  that  ordinarily 
when  men  do  things  knowingly,  deliberately,  there  is  some  pur¬ 
pose.  Now,  the  purpose  and  the  intent  become  a  material 
matter  in  this  case,  and  to  judge  of  the  purpose  and  intent,  which 
are  largely  a  matter  of  mind  and  heart,  you  have  got  to  be  guided 
pretty  largely  by  a  man’s  acts  in  this  world.  You  have  got  to  look 
down  into  the  heart  and  see  what  a  man  has  there.  It  isn’t 
always  safe  to  let  him  determine  by  his  statement  what  his  in¬ 
tentions  were.  The  law  does  permit  him  to  go  upon  the  stand 
and  tell  what  his  intentions  were,  but  the  jury  is  not  bound 
by  that  absolutely.  You  have  a  right  to  consider  it,  give  it  the 
proper  weight,  together  with  all  the  other  evidence,  and  deter¬ 
mine  what  his  intention  was  and  what  was  his  purpose.  So,  now, 
when  you  come  to  the  real  thing  that  is  in  this  case,  you  judge 
this  man  by  his  acts  and  conduct  at  that  time  and  his  acts  and 
conduct  as  you  have  seen  it  here.  Now,  what  did  he  shy?  You 
have  heard  the  testimony  of  some  seven  or  eight  witnesses  for 
the  Government,  and  heard  the  testimony  of  the  defendant  and 
another  witness.  You  have  to  weigh  the  evidence  of  these  wit¬ 
nesses  and  determine  what  was  said. 

“Of  course,  I  am  not  going  through  the  claims  made  by  the 
Government  as  to  the  particular  things  that  they  claim  he  said, 
but  I  will  illustrate  by  one  or  two.  Did  he  say,  now,  there  that 
night  that  when  a  soldier  went  away  he  was  a  hero  and  that 
when  he  came  back  flirting  with  a  hand  organ  he  was  a  bum, 
and  that  the  asylums  will  be  filled  with  them?  Did  he  say  that 
or  not?  You  have  got  to  say  that.  If  I  express  an  opinion  of 
any  facts  here  in  this  case,  I  don’t  want  you  to  consider  that 
opinion;  I  don’t  intend  to,  but  in  the  discussion  sometimes  of  the 
evidence,  it  might  appear  to  you  that  I  was  expressing  an  opinion. 


The  Espionage  Act 


147 


I  am  not  trying  to.  Did  he  say  it?  Suppose,  now,  you  say,  ‘Yes, 
he  said  that’;  then  the  real  question  is,  ‘Why?’  What  was  his  pur¬ 
pose?  Judge  that  from  all  of  the  facts  and  circumstances  under 
which  he  was  speaking.  These  facts  and  circumstances  are  not 
in  dispute  except  in  matters  of  detail.  There  is  no  dispute  that  at 
that  time  there  was  a  battery  here  of  United  States  soldiers, 
either  actually  enlisted  or  ready  for  enlistment;  there  is  no  dis¬ 
pute  but  what  a  Government  officer  of  the  United  States  was  here 
with  headquarters  for  enlistment;  there  is  no  question  at  all 
that  the  only  way  they  can  get  men  in  the  army  is  by  volunteers 
and  by  conscription;  and  in  this  connection  you  have  a  right  to 
go  right  down  into  human  nature  and  what  you  know  about  it. 
You  have  a  right  to  consider  in  so  far  as  you  know  from  human 
experience  what  a  hard  thing  it  is  for  parents  to  sometimes  give 
up  their  boy  to  the  service  of  the  Government  in  war,  and  how 
far,  if  at  all,  statements  of  that  kind,  if  they  were  made,  would 
reach  down  into  the  heart  of  a  father  or  mother  or  boy  and  have 
a  tendency  to  take  the  courage  out  of  them;  how,  if  at  all,  it 
would  have  that  effect;  or  how  far,  if  at  all,  it  would  have  some 
other  effect.  You  have  a  right  to  take  those  things  into  considera¬ 
tion.  Take  not  one  single  statement  here,  but  all  the  statements; 
take  not  only  what  the  Government  says  that  this  man  said,  but 
take  what  he  says  he  said  himself,  and  determine  what  he  meant; 
what  was  his  purpose  and  intent.  For  instance,  as  I  recall  the 
testimony — but  you  are  to  determine  that  question — he  said  this 
is  a  capitalist  war.  If  so,  what  was  his  purpose?  As  I  recall, 
he  testified  that  he  said  soldiers  were  giving  their  lives  for  the 
capitalists,  that  40  per  cent  of  the  ammunition  of  the  allies  or 
their  guns  was  defective  because  of  graft.  If  so,  what  was  his 
purpose?  What  purpose  does  he  explain  himself?  Give  his  ex¬ 
planation  all  the  weight  it  is  entitled  to  under  all  the  circum¬ 
stances.  You  are  to  determine  the  question,  whether  he  was 
trying  to  restrain  enlistment  as  charged,  or  words  to  that  effect; 
or  whether  he  was  trying  to  restrain  them  from  enlisting  in  the 
English  Army.  Take  his  explanation  and  determine  what  his 
purpose  was,  take  the  circumstances  under  which  he  said  it, 
surrounding  it  and  all  that  he  said. 

“And  so,  I  have  used  these  few  statements  simply  to  illus¬ 
trate  the  processes  of  the  mind  by  which  you  must  arrive  at 
what  the  defendant  did  in  this  case.  Now,  if  he  said  things,  as 
claimed  by  the  Government,  which  from  their  very  nature  the 
result  would  have  upon  the  human  mind  a  tendency  to  cause  in¬ 
subordination,  disloyalty,  or  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty,  if  that 
was  the  real  natural  consequence  that  would  follow  from  a  speech 
of  that  kind,  and  if  he  intended  it  to  have  that  effect,  he  is  guilty 
on  this  first  count.  And  that  is  true,  even  though  it  did  not  have 
that  effect.  The  Government  does  not  have  to  prove  that  some¬ 
body  somewhere  did  violate  some  rule  or  regulation,  because 
the  statute  is  plain:  ‘Whoever,  when  the  United  States  is  at 
war,  shall  wilfully  cause  or  attempt  to  cause  insubordination, 
disloyalty,  mutiny  or  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States’  shall  be  punished.  If  he  ‘attempts’  it. 

“Now,  if  you  find  that  he  did  those  things  in  the  manner  in¬ 
dicated,  under  the  law  you  have  got  to  say  he  is  guilty. 

“It  isn’t  of  course  now  a  question  of  whether  he  said  all  of 
these  things  just  as  the  Government  says  he  did,  but  it  is  the 
question  of  whether  he  said  any  of  them,  the  natural  consequence 
of  which  would  be  that  it  would  obstruct  the  recruiting  and 


148 


Propaganda 


enlistment  service  of  the  United  States.  The  Government  doesn’t 
have  to  go  out  and  find  a  particular  individual  that  was  re¬ 
strained  from  entering  the  service  of  the  United  States  because 
of  his  speech;  it  is  sufficient  if  it  has  proven  that  he  uttered 
words  there,  the  natural  and  probable  consequence  of  which 
upon  the  public  mind  would  obstruct  recruiting  or  enlistment, 
with  an  intention  that  it  should  do  so.  The  Government  must 
prove  that  though  by  a  preponderance  of  the  evidence;  otherwise 
he  can’t  be  convicted  upon  the  second  count. 

“So  you  see,  after  all,  it  gets  down  to  a  very  narrow  question, 
comparatively  narrow.  Did  he  say  these  things,  or  any  of  them, 
with  the  purpose  charged  by  the  Government  in  this  indictment, 
as  I  have  explained  to  you,  or  didn’t  he?  And  was  the  language 
that  you  find  he  used,  was  that  language  such  as  under  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  under  which  it  was  used,  taking  all  of  his  speech 
together,  would  naturally  and  probably  do  the  things  charged  by 
the  Government?  What  would  be  the  natural  consequence  of  what 
he  did?  Would  it  either,  under  the  first  count,  cause  or  attempt 
to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty, 
or  under  the  second  count,  obstruct  the  recruiting  and  enlistment 
service? 

“Now,  that  is  about  all  the  help  I  can  give  you  gentlemen. 
Of  course,  it  is  necessary  in  the  administration  of  law,  in  the 
application  of  law  to  the  complex  affairs  of  human  life,  to  pro¬ 
ceed  upon  the  theory  that  men  ordinarily  intend  the  natural  con¬ 
sequence  of  their  acts.  That  presumption  is  not  conclusive,  but  it 
is  the  ordinary  thing,  that  men,  ordinary  men,  do  intend  to  do 
the  thing  that  their  acts  would  indicate,  and  their  purpose  can 
usually  be  judged  from  their  acts,  but  that  has  got  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  under  all  their  acts,  surroundings,  and  conduct 
in  order  to  try  to  arrive  at  the  solution  of  this  problem  which 
compels  a  jury  to  go  down  into  the  hearts  of  men  to  find  out 
what  was  there.” 

The  defendant  Wallace  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
twenty  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

The  distribution  of  pamphlets  contrary  to  the  Espionage  Act 
is  taken  up  in  Bulletin  No.  71,  in  the  charge  to  the  jury  in  the 
case  against  G.  A.  Gneiser,  Paul  Bosco,  et  al.,  for  distributing  a 
pamphlet  called  “The  Price  We  Pay,”  in  West  Virginia: 

“The  fourth  count  charges  that  Paul  Bosco  did,  after  the 
15th  day  of  June,  1917,  unlawfully  and  feloniously  willfully  make 
and  convey  a  certain  false  report  and  false  statement  with 
intent  to  interfere  with  the  operation  and  success  of  the  mili¬ 
tary  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  which  false 
report  and  false  statement  aforesaid  was  then  and  there  known 
by  the  said  Paul  Bosco  to  be  false  and  which  said  report  and 
statement  was  to  the  effect  that  the  war  in  which  the  United 
States  was  then  engaged  with  the  said  Imperial  German  Govern¬ 
ment  was  a  war  brought  on  by  and  in  behalf  of  the  capi¬ 
talists  and  capitalistic  system  of  the  United  States  and  in 
their  interest  and  against  the  influence  and  voice  of  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  which  said  report 
and  statement  aforesaid  was  false  and  known  by  the  said  Paul 
Bosco  to  be  false,  and  was  circulated  by  him  both  verbally  and 


The  Espionage  Act 


149 


by  means  of  certain  written  circulars  and  pamphlets,  the  exact 
and  complete  contents  whereof  is  to  the  grand  jurors  unknown, 
and  by  him  intended  to  cause  and  attempt  to  cause  insubordina¬ 
tion,  disloyalty,  mutiny,  and  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  and  to  unlawfully  obstruct  the 
recruiting  and  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States  to  the 
injury  of  the  said  service  of  the  said  United  States. 

“And  it  is  further  charged  that  the  said  G.  A.  Gneiser  ‘did 
unlawfully  and  feloniously  aid,  counsel,  and  abet  the  said  Paul 
Bosco  in  making  and  conveying  the  said  false  report  and  state¬ 
ment  aforesaid  with  the  intent  and  purpose  and  in  the  manner 
in  all  respects  as  hereinbefore  in  this  count  set  out.’  And  in 
support  of  this  there  has  been  introduced  and  especially  dwelt 
upon  a  circular,  entitled  ‘The  Price  We  Pay,’  and  a  petition 
which  it  is  admitted  by  the  defendant  himself  he  circulated  and 
secured  subscriptions  to  a  fund  the  purpose  of  which  it  is 
alleged  was  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  and  circulating  liter¬ 
ature  as  expressed  in  that  petition. 

“Now  you  are  to  determine  the  following:  First,  whether 
these  reports  and  statements  were  false.  Second,  that  they 
were  known  to  be  false  by  Bosco  and  that  they  were  made  and 
circulated  by  him  for  the  purpose  of  interfering  with  the  re¬ 
cruiting  and  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States  and  to 
create  insubordination,  disloyalty,  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty 
in  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States.  Third, 
whether  the  defendant,  G.  A.  Gneiser,  aided,  abetted,  and  coun¬ 
seled  him,  the  said  Bosco,  in  the  circulation  of  such  false  state¬ 
ments  and  reports. 

“And  if  the  evidence  convinces  you  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt 
that  Gneiser  did  so  aid,  counsel,  and  abet  the  said  Paul  Bosco  in 
circulating  such  false  circulars,  statements,  and  reports,  then  it 
will  be  your  duty  to  find  him  guilty  under  this  fourth  count.  If 
not,  then  it  will  be  your  duty  to  find  him  not  guilty  thereon.” 

In  this  case  Gneiser  was  found  not  guilty;  Bosco  was  found 
guilty  and  sentenced  to  ten  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

This  same  pamphlet,  “The  Price  We  Pay,”  is  taken  up  in  Bul¬ 
letins  15  and  52,  and  the  problems  of  what  constitutes  conspiracy 
and  wilful  obstruction  carefully  analyzed. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


s 


LEGAL  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPAGANDA  AS  A  CRIME. 

The  study  of  all  of  these  bulletins  fails  to  show  a  legal  recogni¬ 
tion  of  the  power  of  hostile  propaganda  as  such. 

The  word  propaganda  rarely  occurs  indeed.  But  it  appears  in 
its  true  historical  significance  throughout  discussions  in  Congress  in 
May,  1918,  when  a  successful  effort  was  made  to  revise  the  Espion¬ 
age  Act  so  as  to  meet  an  evil  that  had  gone  too  long  unchecked. 

Two  ways  were  available  for  overcoming  the  influence  of 
propaganda :  one  to  meet  it  with  counter-propaganda,  the  other  to 
punish  its  agents. 

Much  has  been  done  in  this  country  in  the  way  of  positive  propa¬ 
ganda  for  expounding  our  aims,  our  wrongs,  our  ambitions,  our 
achievements,  but  propaganda  for  the  purposes  of  assassinating  our 
enemies  is  an  uncongenial  weapon  that  we  have  done  well  to  leave 
to  the  Germans  who  have  mastered  it  so  thoroughly. 

The  problem  of  punishing  hostile  propagandists  is  complex.  The 
Espionage  Act  as  originally  passed  did  not  seem  to  cover  the  situa¬ 
tion  and  the  Department  of  Justice  asked  for  better  statutes.  The 
Overman  Bill  was  prepared  to  meet  the  emergency. 

THE  OVERMAN  BILL  AND  THE  FRANCE  AMENDMENT. 

Senator  France  put  forward  an  amendment  which  threatened 
for  a  time  to  nullify  the  bill.  This  amendment  read :  “Provided, 
however,  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as  limiting 
the  liberty  or  impairing  the  right  of  any  individual  to  publish  or 
speak  what  is  true,  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends.” 

The  amendment  was  adversely  reported  by  a  conference  com¬ 
mittee  and  was  defeated  after  a  memorable  debate  in  the  Senate 
in  the  course  of  which  so  much  was  uttered  concerning  the  menace 
of  propaganda  that  somewhat  liberal  quotations  from  the  Con - 
gressional  Record  of  May  4,  1918,  should  be  placed  here,  especially 
as  their  eloouence  and  profundity  of  thought  mark  this  as  one  of 
die  great  encounters  of  theory  with  theory  in  the  history  of  human 
liberty.  It  is  impossible  to  quote  the  entire  debate  and  only  a 
brief  citation  is  made  from  the  advocate  of  the  France  amend¬ 
ment,  whose  full  remarks  can  be  found  in  the  Record ,  but  the 
following  excerpts  are  both  searching  and  pertinent  as  well  as  loftily 
considered  and  expressed. 


Legal  Recognition 


151 


Senator  Thomas,  of  Colorado,  said  in  part: 

t 

“We  are  told  by  the  departments  that  the  present  statute  is 
inefficient  and  practically  inoperative,  and  that  unless  something 
of  this  kind  is  added  to  the  espionage  law  it  will  fail  to  produce 
the  consequences'  intended.  We  have  had  our  attention  called 
to  the  inefficacy  of  the  existing  section  3,  not  only  in  a  general 
way  but  by  way  of  specific  instance.  That  statute  seemed  to  me, 
at  the  time  it  was  accepted  by  the  Senate,  to  be  sufficient  for 
the  purpose.  It  may  be,  however,  that  experience  has  demon¬ 
strated  that  we  were  wrong.  I  do  not  know.  I  will  read  it: 

“  ‘Whoever,  when  the  United  States  is  at  war,  shall  willfully 
make  or  convey  false  reports  or  false  statements  with  intent  to 
interfere  with  the  operation  or  success  of  the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States  or  to  promote  the  success  of  its  ene¬ 
mies,  and  whoever,  when  the  United  States  is  at  war,  shall  will¬ 
fully  cause  or  attempt  to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty,  mu¬ 
tiny,  or  refusal  of  duty,  in  the  military  or  naval  forces  of  the 
United  States,  or  shall  willfully  obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlist¬ 
ment  service  of  the  United  States,  to  the  injury  of  the  service  or  of 
the  United  States,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
$10,000  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  twenty  years,  or  both.’ 

“Mr.  President,  the  condition  of  the  country,  due  in  large 
part  to  the  fact  that  we  are  not  a  homogeneous  people  and  that 
one  section,  or  a  part  of  one  section,  of  our  population  is  avow¬ 
edly  disloyal  and  engaged  in  active  enemy  propaganda,  is  the 
only  possible  excuse,  in  my  judgment,  for  this  legislation.  We 
should  be  sensible  of  the  requirements  of  our  institutions  and 
constantly  on  guard  for  their  protection  in  times  of  war,  when, 
of  all  times,  free  institutions  need  safeguarding.  There  are, 
however,  exceptions  to  all  general  rules,  and  this  may  be  one  of 
them.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  it  is,  but  I  must  recog¬ 
nize  the  existence  of  a  situation  that  is  both  unique  and  dan¬ 
gerous. 

“Mr.  President,  I  have  had  occasion  to  say  at  a  previous  time 
that  the  enemy  known  as  pan-Germanism  is  far  more  danger¬ 
ous  to  the  allied  forces  than  the  troops  of  the  Kaiser  upon  the 
western  front.  I  have  had  occasion  to  illustrate  that  statement 
by  referring  to  the  fate  of  Russia  and  to  the  terrible  disaster 
to  the  Italian  arms  last  October,  and  also  to  the  seething  mass 
of  dissatisfaction  which  is  being  carefully  and  constantly  fo¬ 
mented  in  all  allied  countries.  Germany,  now  conceded  to  have 
been  the  aggressor  in  this  war,  aims,  as  Bernhardi  declared 
she  should  aim  back  in  1911,  at  world  dominion;  and  Germany 
has  prepared  herself  for  her  attempt  at  world  dominion  by 
nearly  a  half  century  of  careful,  constant,  and  meticulous  prep¬ 
aration.  There  is  nothing  of  which  mankind  is  capable,  no  great 
advance  sociologically,  economically,  industrially,  politically,  or 
commercially  which  Germany  has  not  long  ago  drafted  into  her 
general  scheme  of  world  dominion  and  military  preparation 
therefor. 

“Forty  years  ago  pan-Germanism  began  its  pernicious  course, 
with  the  result  that  every  German,  and  as  far  as  possible  every 
descendant  of  every  German,  in  every  country  in  the  world,  has 
been  utilized  or  sought  to  be  utilized  in  the  general  scheme  of 
Germanic  world  conquest.  The  Machiavellian  philosophy,  so 
called,  has,  ever  since  the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great,  been  the 
accepted  scheme  of  German  activity;  and  it  has  been  improved 
upon  by  Bismarck  and  by  the  present  Kaiser  to  a  degree  that 


152 


Propaganda 


would  astonish  the  author  of  that  policy  if  he  could  be  made 
aware  of  that  development. 

“I  happened  to  be  in  the  city  of  Washington  a  few  years  ago 
when  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  representing  his  imperial  brother, 
visited  the  United  States.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  sit  in 
yonder  gallery  when  he  was  ushered  into  this  Hall  by  a  committee 
of  which  the  then  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations 
was  the  leader  and  to  listen  to  his  words  of  amity  and  good  will 
toward  the  United  States — a  speech  the  earnestness  and  sincerity 
of  which  were  at  the  time  never  doubted,  and  which,  of  course, 
contributed  almost  entirely  to  the  cordial  reception  which  he 
received,  both  at  the  hands  of  public  functionaries  and  at  the 
hands  of  private  citizens  everywhere.  And  yet  we  now  know, 
we  long  since  have  known,  that  the  visit  of  Prince  Henry  to 
this  country  was  not  for  the  purposes  ostensibly  announced,  but 
for  the  purpose  of  clinching  and  making  more  effective  that 
American  section  of  pan-Germanism  that  ewes  its  allegiance  first 
to  the  Kaiser,  and  second,  if  any  allegiance  be  left,  to  the  United 
States  of  America.  We  know  now  why  he  visited  the  principal 
cities  of  the  United  States  where  German  population  is  in  the 
aggregate  far  greater  than  in  other  sections,  and  why  his  visit 
and  its  purposes  have  been  followed  up  and  stimulated  ever 
since.  We  did  not  suspect  it  then.  Indeed,  one  of  the  marvels 
in  which  posterity  will  in.dulge  will  be  the  utter  indifference 
with  which  the  people  of  other  countries,  without  exception,  per¬ 
mitted  pan-Germanism  to  continue  and  develop,  all  in  the  inter¬ 
est  of  the  Fatherland;  and  that  wonder,  Mr.  President,  will  be 
perhaps  more  complete  when  the  statements,  which  should  have 
been  warnings,  made  long  before  the  war,  were  available  to  all 
thinking  and  reading  people. 

“Gen.  Bernhardi,  in  his  now  famous  work,  ‘Germany  in  the 
Next  War,’  published  in  1911,  referring  to  the  Germans  beyond 
the  Empire,  said: 

“  ‘The  further  duty  of  supporting  the  Germans  in  foreign 
countries  in  their  struggle  for  existence  and  of  thus  keeping 
them  loyal  to  their  nationality  is  one  from  which,  in  our  indi¬ 
rect  interests,  we  can  not  withdraw.  The  isolated  groups  of 
Germans  abroad  greatly  benefit  our  trade,  since  by  preference 
they  obtain  their  goods  from  Germany;  but  they  may  also  be 
useful  to  us  politically,  as  we  discover  in  America.  The  Ameri¬ 
can  Germans  have  formed  a  political  alliance  with  the  Irish 
and  thus  united  constitute  a  power  in  the  State  with  which  the 
Government  must  reckon.’ 

“The  junior  Senator  from  Utah  (Mr.  King)  can  speak  much 
more  intelligently  and  forcefully  than  can  I  regarding  the  activi¬ 
ties  of  the  German-American  Alliance  in  the  United  States;  and 
we  do  know  that  in  the  interval  between  the  general  declaration 
of  war  and  our  entry  into  it,  the  activities  of  certain  Irishmen 
and  of  certain  Germans  in  the  great  cities  of  the  country,  par¬ 
ticularly  during  the  last  political  campaign,  confirm  the  asser¬ 
tion  of  Bernhardi  almost  to  the  letter. 

“Of  course,  Mr.  President,  I  must  always  be  understood  as 
exempting  those  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  Germans  and  Irish¬ 
men  and  the  descendants  of  Germans  and  of  Irishmen  from  the 
general  indictment  of  pan-Germanism;  but  after  that  excep¬ 
tion  is  made  there  is  too  much  of  it,  far  too  much  of  it,  per¬ 
niciously  active  at  all  times. 

“These  forces  are  constantly  interfering  to  prevent  the  United 
States  throwing  its  whole  force  into  this  struggle  and  to  prevpnt 


Ley  a  l  L*  ecoy  1 1  i  t  io n 


153 


unity  of  American  citizenship  at  home.  I  have  not  the  time  to  refer 
to  the  many  incidents,  the  many  terrible  events,  crowding  each 
upon  the  heels  of  the  other  since  the  debacle  of  August,  1914, 
began;  but  I  do  know,  and  every  observing  man  in  America 
knowrs,  that  the  poison  of  quiet  and  sometimes  of  vociferous 
criticism  of  men  and  of  measures,  the  dissemination  of  views 
regarding  the  operation  of  the  draft  law,  the  power  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  to  use  its  military  forces  outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States,  the  spread  of  rumors  of  all  sorts  regarding 
the  condition  of  our  soldiery,  the  sanitary  situation  in  their 
camps,  and  the  thousand  and  one  things  which  the  devilish  ac¬ 
tivities  of  a  great  section  of  our  people  suggest  to  others  go  far¬ 
ther  in  a  country  like  tilts  to  diffuse  and  to  weaken  our  energies 
than  in  a  country  like  Great  Britain,  whose  population  is  largely  v 
homogeneous. 

“In  America  we  have  people  from  every  section  and  every 
country  on  the  earth,  and  we  have  been  so  indifferent  to  our 
own  duties  of  citizenship  as  to  permit  them  to  remain  segre¬ 
gated,  to  use  their  language  and  not  our  language,  and  to 
conduct  themselves  practically  as  foreign  communities  within 
our  midst.  That  is  the  ripest  soil  that  can  be  imagined  for  the 
dissemination  of  treasonable  and  semi-treasonable  utterances  and 
propaganda. 

“If  I  understand  the  purpose  of  section  3,  as  presented  by 
the  conference  report,  it  is  to  meet  and  if  possible  overcome 
that  situation  as  far  as  the  present  legislation  can  overcome 
it,  and  therefore  this  report  has  been  agreed  upon. 

“Mr.  President,  we  do  not  enact  laws  against  murder  and 
make  crimes  of  larceny  in  order  to  interfere  with  the  rights  but 
rather  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  law-abiding,  tax-paying  citi¬ 
zens.  Those  laws  are  necessarily  general.  They  must  be  com¬ 
prehensive,  else  they  would  consist  of  class  legislation  and  be 
both  unjust  and  ineffective.  So  with  legislation  of  this  charac¬ 
ter;  it  must  be  made  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  include 
everybody — the  white,  the  black,  the  rich,  the  poor,  the  Jew, 
the  Gentile.  It  will  probably  bear,  it  may  bear,  heavily  upon 
those  who  with  the  best  of  intentions  express  their  opinions 
concerning  government  and  governmental  functions.  It  may  go 
too  far — and  I  am  afraid  it  does — but  I  sympathize,  in  view  of 
the  experiences  of  the  past  year,  very  strongly  with  that  con¬ 
dition  which  has  prompted  the  Government  to  ask  legislation 
of  this  sort. 

“Mr.  President,  when  this  bill  was  passed  by  the  Senate,  sec¬ 
tion  3  contained  the  following  proviso: 

“  ‘That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as  limiting  the 
liberty  or  impairing  the  right  of  any  individual  to  publish  or 
speak  what  is  true  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends.’ 

“That  is  an  amendment  which  was  presented,  if  I  recollect 
rightly,  by  the  junior  Senator  from  Maryland  (Mr.  France), 
and  it  was  accepted  by  the  Senator  having  charge  of  the  bill, 
in  consequence  of  which  I  do  not  think  it  attracted  much 
attention  or  much  criticism.  I  remember  that  I  favored  it  men¬ 
tally  and  at  the  time  regarded  it  as  a  beneficial  addition  to 
the  section.  But  since  it  has  become  a  pivot  of  active  contro¬ 
versy  I  have  taken  occasion  to  look  into  the  phraseology  of  it 
a  little  more  closely,  and  my  conclusion  is  that  it  should  have 
been  eliminated: 

“  ‘ Provided ,  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as 
limiting  the  liberty  or  impairing  the  right  of  any  individual  to 


I 


154 


Propaganda 

publish  or  speak  what  is  true  with  good  motives  and  for  jus¬ 
tifiable  ends.’ 

“Mr.  President,  intent  is  essential  to  the  constitution  of  all 
crimes,  great  and  small.  Motive  may  be  important  as  determin¬ 
ing  intent  or  it  may  not.  The  ideas,  however,  conveyed  by  the 
two  words  are  by  no  means  identical.  A  man  with  the  best  of 
motives  may  commit  a  serious  crime  and  his  purpose  may  be, 
in  his  opinion,  justifiable;  that  is,  he  may  act  from  pure  mo¬ 
tives  and  justifiable  ends.  I  may  be  a  neighbor  of  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  and  I  may  imagine  that  his  house  con¬ 
tains  germs  of  some  very  infectious  disease  which  unless  re¬ 
moved  may  subject  the  members  of  my  family  to  infection  and 
to  disease  and  death.  The  Senator,  however,  is  indifferent  to 
my  appeals  for  fumigation  and  also  to  the  apprehensions  which 
I  entertain,  and  since  he  will  not  act  I  set  his  house  on  fire. 
My  motive  is  to  protect  my  family,  and  that  is  a  justifiable  end; 
yet  who  will  say  that  under  such  circumstances  the  laws 
of  South  Carolina  would  not  reach  forth  and  take  possession  of 
my  person,  imprison  and  try  me,  and  convict  me  of  the  crime 
of  arson? 

“A  German-American,  or  a  man  who  is  not  a  German-Amer¬ 
ican  but  sympathizing  with  the  Germans,  may  with  the  best  of 
motives  acquire  information  regarding  the  state  of  our  muni¬ 
tion  factories  and  publish  the  facts  to  the  world.  His  motive 
is  perfectly  good.  He  wants  to  help  the  cause  with  which  he 
sympathizes,  and  the  end  justifies  the  means  in  his  instance. 
He  publishes  these  facts.  Could  he  be  convicted  under  a  stat¬ 
ute  containing  such  a  proviso?  I  doubt  it  very  much,  Mr.  Presi¬ 
dent.  It  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  instances  because  they 
would  occur  to  any  thinking  man  by  the  thousand. 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  I  should  like  to  call  attention  to  the  charge 
of  a  judge  to  a  jury.  This  is  from  a  great  Vermont  judge: 

“  ‘The  Government’s  evidence  tends  to  show  that  the  defend¬ 
ant  intended  to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty  and  refusal  of 
duty  in  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States;  the  defendant’s 
evidence  tends  to  show  that  the  only  intention  which  he  had  was 
to  serve  God. 

“  ‘You  should  be  careful  not  to  mix  motive  with  intent.  Motive 
is  that  which  leads  to  the  act;  intent  qualifies  it.  A  crime  may 
be  committed  with  a  good  motive;  it  may  be  committed  with  an 
evil  motive;  or  it  may  be  committed  with  a  good  and  an  evil  motive. 
To  illustrate:  The  father  of  a  large  family  steals  bread  for  his 
starving  children  and  also  to  deprive  the  owner  of  its  value.  He 
has  two  motives;  one  is  good  and  one  is  evil;  but  he  is  guilty,  not¬ 
withstanding  he  has  a  good  motive,  as  well  as  an  evil  motive, 
for  he  must  not  steal  at  all.  So  in  this  case  the  defendant’s  inten¬ 
tion  to  serve  God  does  not  excuse  him  if  you  find  that  he  also 
intended  to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty  or  refusal  of  duty.’ 

“This  is  a  concrete  case.  At  the  time  of  this  trial  if  this 
amendment  had  been  the  law  the  judge  could  not  have  made  the 
charge  he  did,  and  the  jury  could  not  have  convicted,  as  it  did, 
and  the  man  would  have  gotten  off.  That  is  a  concrete  case. 

“Mr.  GALLINGER.  The  man  was  not  released? 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  He  was  not  released  because  there  was  not 
any  amendment  like  this  in  the  law.  He  would  have  been  re¬ 
leased  if  this  amendment  had  been  the  law. 

“Mr.  STERLING.  Mr.  President,  I  think  Senators  in  opposing 
this  amendment  and  in  opposing  striking  out  the  amendment  of 


Legal  Recognition 


155 


the  Senator  from  Maryland  have  fears  in  regard  to  the  operation 
of  the  law  which  are  quite  groundless.  No  loyal,  patriotic  citizen 
need  fear  the  operation  of  this  law,  because  he  will  not  utter 
abusive  or  scurrilous  or  contemptuous  language  about  the  form  of 
our  Government  or  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States  or 
indulge  in  any  of  the  other  things  prohibited  by  the  terms  of  the 
bill.  No  loyal,  patriotic  editor  or  publisher  of  a  paper  need  fear 
the  operations  of  the  bill,  because  he,  as  a  loyal,  patriotic  citizen, 
will  not  publish  abusive,  scurrilous  or  contemptuous  language  in 
regard  to  the  form  of  Government  or  the  Constitution  or  the 
Army  or  the  Navy  of  the  United  States. 

“No  more,  Mr.  President,  need  such  a  man  or  such  an  editor 
fear  the  operation  of  this  law  than  the  average  good  moral  citizen 
need  fear  the  operation  of  a  law  against  murder  or  arson 
or  larceny  or  embezzlement  or  any  other  crime  in  the  cal¬ 
endar  of  crimes,  and  that  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  law, 
made  necessary  for  the  peace  and  good  order  of  society,  will  not 
affect  him.  He  will  not  violate  the  law,  and  the  law  is  made  only 
for  the  disloyal,  the  treasonable  and  the  seditious. 

“Treason  against  the  United  States  is  defined  as  levying  war 
against  the  United  States  or  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving 
them  aid  and  comfort,  and  beyond  and  outside  the  constitutional 
provision  in  regard  to  treason  and  the  statutes  enacted 
in  pursuance  of  the  constitutional  provision  come  these  acts, 
seditious  and  disloyal,  which  can  not  be  prosecuted  under  a 
charge  of  treason  because  they  fall  just  a  little  short  of  treason. 
And  yet  they  do  all  the  injury  which  treason  itself  would  do. 
The  loyal  people  realize  this  and  grow  impatient  because  there 
is  no  adequate  law.  There  has  come  a  demand  from  my  own 
State,  from  every  part  of  my  State,  that  some  such  law  as  this 
shall  be  passed  to  make  seditious  and  disloyal  utterances  impos¬ 
sible. 

“Here  is  a  class  of  cases  that  has  been  brought  to  my  atten¬ 
tion  again  and  again.  Some  have  arisen  in  my  State.  There 
are  men  who  are  at  heart  disloyal,  who  make  certain  utterances 
in  derision  of  the  Red  Cross  work,  of  subscriptions  to  the  Liberty 
loan,  of  the  cause  for  which  we  are  fighting  and  so  forth;  they 
are  absolutely  disloyal.  Now,  in  an  otherwise  thoroughly  loyal 
community,  what  is  the  disposition  with  regard  to  characters  of 
that  kind?  Seeing  that  there  is  no  law  on  the  statute  books  to 
punish  these  seditious  and  disloyal  utterances,  citizens  are 
tempted,  in  order  that  the  community  may  be  rid  of  an  evil  of 
that  kind,  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands. 

“Mr.  LODGE.  If  the  Senator  will  allow  me,  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  law  on  the  statute  books  is  not  what  prevents  lynch¬ 
ing.  What  prevents  lynching  is  the  public  confidence  that  the 
law  on  the  statute  books  will  be  enforced.  If  the  law  is  not 
enforced,  people  lose  all  faith  in  the  courts;  they  lose  all  faith 
in  the  prosecuting  officers,  and  they  take  the  law  into  their 
own  hands.  This,  however,  is  all  part  of  the  general  idea  that 
seems  to  run  through  this  war  that  we  can  fight  it  with  language. 

“Mr.  KING.  I  desire  to  say  to  the  Senator  from  Massachu¬ 
setts  (Mr.  Lodge)  that  in  my  opinion  the  Attorney  General  has 
been  doing  all  within  his  power  to  enforce  existing  statutes.  I 
know  that  he  has  been  keenly  alive  to  the  situation  and  has  in¬ 
voked  the  criminal  statutes  and  all  the  machinery  at  his  com¬ 
mand  to  deal  with  disloyalists  and  those  who  have  violated  Fed¬ 
eral  statutes.  Perhaps  in  some  of  the  States  the  district  Qttor- 


156 


Propaganda 


neys,  either  through  inexperience  in  dealing  with  this  class  of 
cases  or  because  of  their  belief  that  the  law  was  inadequate — 
and  my  own  opinion  is  that  in  many  instances  it  has  been  inade¬ 
quate — to  deal  with  existing  conditions,  have  failed  to  effectively 
deal  with  all  cases  brought  to  their  attention.  I  am  satisfied,  as 
the  result  of  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  activities  of  the 
I.  W.  W.  and  other  disloyal  organizations  and  persons,  and  exist¬ 
ing  laws  under  which  efforts  to  reach  these  organizations  and 
individuals,  that  additional  statutes  are  needed.  Unfortunately 
there  are  some  enemies  in  our  midst.  They  work  in  secret,  and 
m  every  possible  way  to  oppose  our  Government  and  to  cripple 
it  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  conditions  existing  call 
for  legislation  to  supplement  present  criminal  statutes.  This 
legislation,  in  my  opinion,  goes  a  long  way  toward  meeting  the 
situation.  It  is  not  perfect,  and  filling  up  the  hiatus  that  exists 
and  supplementing  existing  statutes  does  not  meet  my  views  in 
all  respects,  but  it  will  prove  effective  and  be  a  necessary  and 
powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  to  enable  it  to 
prosecute  individuals  who  are  spreading  sedition  and  trying  to 
undermine  the  faith  of  the  people  in  the  integrity  of  our  Nation 
and  aid  our  enemies  in  this  mighty  conflict. 

“With  the  effort  that  has  been  made  in  good  faith  by  the  Post 
Office  Department  to  exclude  from  the  mails  treasonable  and  dis¬ 
loyal  publications,  it  cannot  be  charged  that  it  has  failed  in  its 
duty.  Indeed,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  eminent  Senator  from 
Illinois  (Mr.  Sherman),  the  Senator  from  Idaho  (Mr.  Borah), 
the  Senator  from  California  (Mr.  Johnson),  the  activities  of  the 
Post  Office  Department  in  its  denial  of  the  privileges  of  the  mail3 
to  publications  have  been  too  rigorous;  another  criticism  has 
been  made  by  some  that  the  Post  Office  Department  has  excluded 
from  the  mails  publications  with  which  no  fault  could  be  found. 
I  know  that  the  greatest  caution  is  exercised  by  Judge  Lamar 
and  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Postmaster  General  in  Washington 
as  to  what  shall  be  excluded  from  the  mails.  There  can  be  no 
legitimate  criticism  of  their  actions.  Frequently  their  decisions 
have  been  reviewed  by  the  courts;  but,  as  I  am  informed,  the 
courts  have  uniformly  supported  them. 

“The  Postmaster  General  acts  only  upon  legal  advice  in  ex¬ 
cluding  from  the  mails  publications,  literature,  fraud  orders, 
letters  and  other  objectionable  matter,  which  the  law  clearly 
points  out.  His  action  is  subject  to  review  by  the  court;  and 
under  this  bill  no  different  power  is  conferred  upon  him  than 
that  granted  in  statutes  enacted  in  years  gone  by. 

“In  the  United  States  today  there  are  between  1,500  and  1,600 
foreign-language  newspapers.  In  addition,  there  are  hundreds 
of  papers  published  in  the  English  language.  It  is  impossible, 
with  the  limited  resources  at  the  command  of  the  Postmaster 
General,  to  scrutinize  with  that  care  that  perhaps  the  situation 
demands  every  issue  of  every  paper  as  soon  as  it  is  deposited  in 
the  mails. 

“Now  and  then,  indeed  frequently,  newspapers  that  ought  to 
be  excluded  will  get  into  the  mails,  one  issue  or  perhaps  two  or 
three  issues. 

“The  Judiciary  Committee  has  reported  favorably  the  bill  for 
the  revocation  of  the  charter  of  the  German-American  National 
Alliance,  and  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  I  shall  ask  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  consideration  of  that  bill,  with  a 
view  to  having  it  passed. 


Legal  Recognition 


157 


“In  a  number  of  States  since  the  German-American  Alliance 
voluntarily  attempted  to  suspend — and  of  course  Senators  will 
realize  that  it  can  not  do  that,  because  it  exists  in  virtue  of  a 
Congressional  charter,  and  a  mere  voluntary  meeting  of  some  of 
the  members  and  agreeing  to  dissolve  would  not  effectuate  a  dis¬ 
solution  of  the  organization;  that  could  only  be  done  by  legisla¬ 
tive  declaration,  or  possibly  by  judicial  decree,  although  I  doubt 
that  it  could  be  thus  dissolved — some  of  the  subordinate  organiza¬ 
tions,  State  organizations,  and  some  of  the  local  organizations, 
have  determined  to  continue  their  activities.  In  some  few  in¬ 
stances,  I  am  told,  local  societies  have  changed  their  names 
with  the  idea  of  proceeding  along  the  same  lines  under  some 
other  name. 

“In  Pennsylvania  the  name  of  one  of  the  local  organizations 
was  changed  to  some  historical  association  or  an  association  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  the  relation  of  nations  to  each  other. 
It  would  seem  that  there  are  a  number  of  members  of  the  parent 
or  affiliated  organizations  who  are  determined  to  preserve  the 
spirit  of  the  old  organization  under  a  different  form  and  a 
different  name.  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  States  and  the  loyal 
Americans  of  German  birth  and  ancestry  will  see  to  it  that  no 
organization  shall  be  permitted  for  the  purpose  of  spreading 
Pan-Germanism  or  waging  a  propaganda  for  the  destruction  of 
this  Nation  and  the  superimposition  upon  this  country  and  the 
world  of  the  policies,  the  tyranny  and  the  military  despotism 
which  finds  expression  in  the  rule  of  the  present  German 
Kaiser.  The  German-American  National  Alliance  should  be  dis¬ 
solved.  Its  work  in  our  Nation  was  destructive  and  disinte¬ 
grating.  It  stood  not  for  America  and  American  ideals,  but  rep¬ 
resented  rather  the  spirit  and  kultur  of  modern  Germany. 

“Mr.  STERLING.  Mr.  President,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  pro¬ 
ceed,  I  sympathize  quite  thoroughly  with  the  sentiment  ex¬ 
pressed,  and  implied,  too,  in  the  statement  of  the  Senator  from 
Illinois  (Mr.  Sherman),  and  also  with  what  has  been  said  by  the 
Senator  from  Utah  (Mr.  King).  I  have  the  honor  of  being  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  subcommittee  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  which  has 
had  under  investigation  the  German-American  National  Alli¬ 
ance.  You  have  but  to  take  the  charter  and  read  the  glowing 
purposes  for  which  that  association  was  organized  under  the 
terms  of  the  charter,  and  then  compare  that  with  their  deeds 
and  their  influence,  to  be  convinced  that  it  is  an  instrument  of 
activities  wholly  prejudicial  to  our  Government  and  to  our  in¬ 
stitutions.  Not  one  dollar  has  even  been  spent  in  the  furtherance 
of  any  one  of  the  purposes  set  forth  in  the  charter;  that,  I  think, 
clearly  appears  from  the  testimony;  but  thousands,  running 
into  hundreds  of  thousands,  of  dollars  have  been  collected  for 
purposes  wholly  foreign  to  die  interests  of  this  country,  and 
in  many  instances  adverse  to  the  interests  of  this  country. 

“Mr.  President,  the  great  value  of  the  act  will  probably  not 
lie  so  much  in  actual  prosecutions  under  it,  although  there  may 
be  now  and  then  a  case,  but  it  will  be  in  the  great  deterrent 
effect  it  will  have  in  preventing  the  commission  of  these  offenses, 
thus  bringing  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  time  of 
war  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  the  Army  and 
Navy  of  the  United  States  into  disrepute,  when,  indeed,  we 
should  be  in  our  full  vigor,  with  the  morale  and  the  physical 
and,  I  may  say,  mental  strength  of  the  Army  at  the  maximum 
rather  than  to  have  either  injured  in  any  way  whatever  by 
utterances  and  publications  such  as  this  bill  would  prohibit. 


158 


Propaganda 


“Mr.  FRANCE.  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  wisii  to  prolong  the 
debate  upon  this  conference  report,  but  I  desire  to  make  a  very- 
brief  statement  with  reference  to  it  in  order  that  the  Record 
may  very  clearly  show  the  exact  status  of  this  report  and  the 
brief  history  of  it  since  the  9th  day  of  April,  when  I  offered 
an  amendment  to  this  bill,  which  is  now  before  us  as  the  con¬ 
ference  report. 

“On  the  9th  day  of  April,  realizing  that  this  was  a  most 
drastic  measure — far  more  drastic,  as  has  been  shown  by  the 
Senator  from  Missouri  (Mr.  Reed)  during  the  course  of  the 
debate,  than  the  old  sedition  law — realizing  that  this  was  a  far 
more  drastic  measure  than  that,  I  desired  to  see  incorporated 
in  the  bill  language  which  in  a  definite  and  specific  way  would 
assure  the  people  of  the  country  that  this  legislation  was  not 
intended  to  deprive  them  of  those  rights  which  are  clearly  guar¬ 
anteed  to  them  under  the  first  amendment  to  the  Constitution. 
Upon  the  9th  of  April  the  Senate,  after  a  sufficient  discussion, 
for  a  prolonged  discussion  was  unnecessary,  rejected  the  amend¬ 
ment  under  discussion  by  a  vote  of  31  to  33.  On  the  following 
day,  however,  after  the  Senate  had  been  given  an  opportunity 
to  consider  the  matter  further,  this  amendment,  numbered  6, 
.  was  adopted  by  the  Senate  without  a  dissenting  vote.” 

“I  wish  the  Record  to  show  that  the  Senate  rejected  this 
amendment;  that  it  then  unanimously  adopted  it;  and  then, 
through  its  conferees,  it  receded  from  the  amendment,  and  that 
now  the  Senate  is  about  to  adopt  the  conference  report  with 
this  amendment  omitted  from  it. 

“I  think  it  would  be  very  unfortunate,  after  the  adoption  of 
this  amendment,  whether  it  was  material  in  the  first  place  or 
not,  if  the  Senate  should  now  go  on  record  as  being  against 
preserving  the  right  of  the  American  people  to  ‘speak  what  is 
true,  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends.’  Not  only  would 
it  be  unfortunate  if  the  Senate  should  be  placed  in  such  a  posi¬ 
tion,  but  I  think  the  effect  of  such  action  would  be  most  unfor¬ 
tunate  so  far  as  the  prosecution  of  the  war  is  concerned;  and 
in  giving  my  reasons  for  that  I  desire  to  quote  what  was  quoted 
on  April  19  of  last  year  by  the  distinguished  Senator  from 
Idaho  (Mr.  Borah)  in  a  masterly  address  on  this  subject  on  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press.  I  desire  to 
quote  it,  because  I  think  it  is  pertinent  in  this  connection,  for 
it  indicates  very  clearly  one  reason  why  I  feel  that  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  this  conference  report  with  this  amendment  eliminated 
would  be  most  unfortunate  as  far  as  the  prosecution  of  the  war 
is  concerned: 

“  ‘Sir  James  McIntosh,  in  the  Peltier  case,  observed  as  follows: 

“  ‘  “To  inform  the  public  on  the  conduct  of  those  who  admin¬ 
ister  public  affairs  requires  courage  and  conscious  security.  It 
is  always  an  invidious  and' obnoxious  office,  but  it  is  often  the 
most  necessary  of  all  public  duties:  If  it  is  not  done  boldly, 
it  can  not  be  done  effectually,  and  it  is  not  from  writers  trem¬ 
bling  under  the  uplifted  scourge  that  we  are  to  hope  for  it.”  ’ 

“There  seems  to  be  a  very  great  misunderstanding  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  learned  Senators,  particularly  those  learned 
in  the  law,  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  amendment.  They  have 
insisted  on  discussing  the  subject  of  motive  apart  from  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  the  truth,  which,  of  course,  results  in  a  failure  to  grasp 
the  meaning  of  this  amendment,  which,  to  be  properly  under¬ 
stood,  must  be  taken  as  a  whole.  In  order  that  there  may  be 
no  misunderstanding  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  amendment,  I 


Lcga  I  Recognition 


159 


desire  to  quote  this  language  of  Chief  Justice  Story,  language 
which  he  uses  with  reference  to  the  first  amendment  of  the 
Constitution,  which  explains  clearly  this  amendment;  and,  in¬ 
deed,  you  will  note  that  the  language  of  my  amendment  was 
borrowed  from  this  statement  of  the  Chief  Justice: 

“  ‘It  is  plain,  then,  that  the  language  of  this  amendment  im¬ 
ports  no  more  than  that  every  man  shall  have  a  right  to  speak, 
write,  and  print  his  opinions  upon  any  subject  whatsoever,  with¬ 
out  any  prior  restraint,  so  always  that  he  does  not  injure  any 
other  person  in  his  rights,  person,  property,  or  reputation;  and 
so  always  that  he  does  not  thereby  disturb  the  public  peace  or 
attempt  to  subvert  the  Government.  It  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  an  expansion  of  the  great  doctrine  recently  brought  into 
operation  in  the  law  of  libel,  that  every  man  shall  be  at  lib¬ 
erty  to  publish  what  is  true,  with  good  motives,  and  for  justi¬ 
fiable  ends.  And  with  this  reasonable  limitation  it  is  not  only 
right  in  itself,  but  it  is  an  inestimable  privilege  in  a  free  gov¬ 
ernment.  Without  such  limitation  it  might  become  the  scourge 
of  the  Republic,  first  denouncing  the  principles  of  liberty,  and 
then,  by  rendering  the  most  virtuous  patriots  odious  through 
the  terrors  of  the  press,  introducing  despotism  in  its  worst  form.’ 

“Referring,  of  course,  to  the  freedom-of-speech  section  of  the 
first  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 

“He  goes  on  to  say: 

“  ‘A  little  attention  to  the  history  of  other  countries  in  other 
ages  will  teach  us  the  vast  importance  of  this  right.  It  is  noto¬ 
rious  that  even  to  this  day  in  some  foreign  countries  it  is  a 
crime  to  speak  on  any  subject,  religious,  philosophical,  or  politi¬ 
cal,  what  is  contrary  to  the  received  opinions  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  or  the  institutions  of  the  country,  however  laudable  may 
be  the  design  and  however  virtuous  may  be  the  motive.’ 

“Mr.  President,  I  had  not  expected  to  occupy  even  this  much 
time,  but  I  desire  to  say  just  this  word  further: 

“We  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  using  this  sort  of  logic  in 
the  Congress:  ‘We  are  at  war.  We  all  wish  to  win  the  war. 
This  measure  will  help  win  the  war.  Therefore  we  must  adopt 
this  measure’;  and  the  corollary:  That  any  man  who  is  not  in 
favor  of  this  measure  is  against  winning  the  war. 

“Mr.  KING.  Mr.  President - 

“The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  Does  the  Senator  from  Mary¬ 
land  yield  to  the  Senator  from  Utah? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  Certainly. 

“Mr.  KING.  The  Senator  has  just  quoted  from  Judge  Story 
with  respect  to  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  the  freedom  of 
speech.  Would  it  be  displeasing  to  the  Senator  for  me  at  this 
point  to  call  his  attention  to  another  statement  of  Judge  Story 
in  the  second  volume  of  his  work  on  constitutional  law? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  Not  at  all.  I  shall  be  pleased  to  have  it 
added  to  the  Record. 

“Mr.  KING.  Judge  Story  uses  this  language: 

“  ‘There  is  a  good  deal  of  loose  reasoning  on  the  subject  of 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  as  if  its  inviolability  were  constitu¬ 
tionally  such  that,  like  the  King  of  England,  it  could  do  no 
wrong  and  was  free  from  every  inquiry  and  afforded  a  perfect 
sanctuary  for  every  abuse;  that,  in  short,  it  implied  a  despotic 
sovereignty  to  do  every  sort  of  wrong  without  the  slightest 
accountability  to  private  or  public  justice.  Such  a  notion  is  too 
extravagant  to  be  held  by  any  sound  constitutional  lawyer — ’ 


1G0 


Propaganda 


“And,  I  may  say  in  parenthesis,  by  any  good,  loyal  Ameri¬ 
can  citizen. 

“  ‘Such  a  notion  is  too  extravagant  to  be  held  by  any  sound 
constitutional  lawyer  with  regard  to  the  rights  and  duties 
belonging  to  governments  generally  or  the  State  governments 
in  particular.  If  it  were  admitted  to  be  correct,  it  might  be 
justly  affirmed  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  incompatible 
with  the  permanent  existence  of  any  free  government.  *  *  * 

In  short,  is  it  contended  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  so  much 
more  valuable  than  all  other  rights  in  society  that  the  public 
safety — nay,  the  existence  of  the  Government  itself — is  to  yield 
to  it?  It  would  be  difficult  to  answer  these  questions  in  favor 
of  the  liberty  of  the  press  without  at  the  same  time  declaring 
that  such  a  license  belonged,  and  could  only  belong,  to  a  des¬ 
potism,  and  was  utterly  incompatible  with  the  principles  of  a 
free  government.’ 

“I  thank  the  Senator  for  permitting  me  to  put  that  into  the 
Record. 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  thank  the  Senator  from  Utah;  and  I  will 
say  in  reply  that  I  am  familiar  with  that  language,  which  is 
merely  an  extension  of  what  I  read.  I  should  have  been  very 
glad  to  have  read  the  more  extended  quotation,  but  it  was  not 
necessary  for  my  purpose.  That  was  the  position  occupied  by 
the  Chief  Justice;  and,  taking  that  very  position,  he  also  took 
the  position  that  this  right  must  be  preserved — the  right  of 
every  citizen  to  ‘publish  or  speak  what  is  true,  from  good  mo¬ 
tives  and  for  justifiable  ends.’  That  is  what  the  Chief  Justice 
insisted  upon  in  connection  with  the  very  language  quoted  by 
the  Senator  from  Utah. 

“I  shall  not  go  into  the  subject  of  the  constitutionality  of  this 
measure. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  Mr.  President - 

“The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  Does  the  Senator  from  Mary¬ 
land  yield  to  the  Senator  from  Montana? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  With  pleasure. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  Inasmuch  as  the  Senator  from  Maryland  is 
the  author  of  this  clause  that  has  been  so  much  discussed,  I 
should  like  to  ask  him  if  he  will  kindly  give  the  Senate  a  con¬ 
crete  case  in  which  one  who  is  entitled  to  do  so  would  be  em¬ 
barrassed  in  making  a  just  defense  with  this  language  not  in 
the  act. 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  do  so.  I  do 
not  care,  however,  to  do  so  with  any  degree  of  explicitness,  for 
reasons  which  I  need  not  go  into  now.  I  will  say,  however, 
that  if  an  editorial  which  was  read  the  other  day  from  the 
New  York  Times — which  to  my  mind  clearly  indicated  possible 
misconduct  on  the  part  of  certain  officials  of  this  Government, 
and  which  closed  with  the  statement  to  the  effect  that  if  these 
suspicions  were  justified  these  men  should  be  dealt  with  crimi¬ 
nally — if  that  editorial  had  gone  further  and  had  mentioned  the 
names  of  these  gentlemen,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  writer  of  it 
could  have  claimed  exemption  from  the  operation  of  this  law,  if 
under  this  proposed  law  he  had  been  subjected  to  prosecution. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  If  that  is  the  instance  the  Senator  has  in 
mind,  I  should  like  to  inquire  of  him  under  what  particular  pro¬ 
vision  of  this  bill  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Times  stands  in 
any  peril? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  did  not  care  to  go  into  this  subject  any 
more  fully,  because  specific  instances - 


Legal  Recognition 


161 


“Mr.  WALSH.  Of  course,  these  are  very  practical  questions 
that  we  are  dealing  with. 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  This  is  a  very  practical  question;  but  the 
Senator  is  well  aware  that  I  do  not  care  to  bring  to  the  bar 
of  the  Senate  any  paper  or  any  official  at  this  time;  and  for 
that  reason  it  is  unfair  for  me  to  enter  into  any  extended  dis¬ 
cussion  of  any  particular  case.  The  Senator  from  Montana  will 
realize  the  justice  of  that. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  The  Senator  referred  to  the  editorial  appear¬ 
ance  in  the  New  York  Times - 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  Yes. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  A  very  proper  criticism,  it  seems  to  me,  of 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  Government  connected  with  the  prose¬ 
cution  of  the  war;  but,  as  I  asked  a  moment  ago,  under  what 
provision  of  the  bill  does  the  editor  of  that  paper  stand  in  any 
peril? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  will  read  the  language  to  the  Senator,  elimi¬ 
nating  what  is  not  relevant: 

“  ‘Whoever  *  *  *  shall  *  *  *  publish  *  *  *  abus¬ 
ive  language  about  the  *  *  *  military  *  *  *  forces  of 

the  United  States  *  *  *  .’ 

“It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  somewhat  abusive,  to  say  the  least, 
to  indicate  that  certain  members  of  the  military  forces — if 
that  is  a  fair  interpretation  of  the  editorial — should  be  sub¬ 
jected  to  criminal  prosecution  for  their  acts. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  Why,  Mr.  President,  that  idea  could  be  ex¬ 
pressed  in  the  most  refined  and  unexceptional  language.  There 
is  no  fault  to  be  found  with  the  language  in  which  it  is  charged. 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  am  not  saying  that  in  my  judgment  there 
has  been  any  abusive  language. 

“Mr.  WALSH.  I  was  going  to  say,  if  it  were  abusive,  it 
would  not  be  permitted  to  be  read  here  in  the  Senate.  There 
was  nothing  abusive  about  the  language,  however  severe  it  may 
have  been. 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  have  the  very  highest  regard  for  the  legal 
opinion  of  the  Senator  from  Montana,  and  I  had  not  expected 
to  occupy  so  much  time.  I  realize  that  opinions  may  well  differ 
with  reference  to  particular  phraseology.  I  was  about  to  say 
that  I  do  not  care  to  go  into  any  constitutional  discussion  on 
this  subject.  I  think  it  is  very  clear,  however,  that  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  the  States  did  not  delegate 
to  the  Federal  Government  the  right  to  pass  laws  limiting  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Upon  this 
both  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  who  rarely  agreed,  were  in  com¬ 
plete  agreement. 

“At  a  time  like  this,  Mr.  President,  we  are  in  grave  danger 
of  getting  to  the  point  where  we  are  not  a  sovereign  Senate. 
We  are  a  Senate  representing  sovereign  States,  and  those  States 
are  nothing  but  the  creation  of  a  sovereign  people.  Such  legis¬ 
lation  as  this,  to  my  mind,  can  only  be  possible  when  that 
great  truth  has  been  forgotten.  Our  sovereigns  lie  out  yonder, 
and  it  is  their  sovereign  will  as  voiced  by  them  which  we 
must  express  in  legislation,  by  such  legislation  giving  direction 
to  executive  action.  Neither  the  legislative  nor  the  executive 
departments  of  this  Government  is  sovereign,  but  the  sover¬ 
eigns  whose  will  we  are  here  expressing  in  legislation  are  the 
people  of  the  United  States. 

“I  hesitate  to  pass  any  legislation  by  which  we  would  place 
a  rough  hand  upon  that  sovereign  people  and  say  to  them,  ‘Be 


162 


Propaganda 


still!  This  is  the  Senate’s  war;  this  is  the  Executive’s  war. 
This  is  a  Washington  war.’  Senators,  what  a  fallacy!  This 
proposed  legislation  arises  from  a  total  misconception  of  the 
very  nature  of  modern  war,  a  misconception  which  in  my  opin¬ 
ion  has  been  responsible  for  many  of  the  mistakes  which  have 
been  made. 

“War  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  armies;  it  is  a  matter  of 
whole  nations;  and  we  can  not  win  this  war  with  one,  two, 
three,  or  four  million  men  in  France.  We  can  only  win  it  by 
calling  into  the  combat  all  the  great  resources  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  people.  We  can  only  win  it  by  a  great  organization  and  a 
united  Nation.  I  am  opposed  to  this  legislation,  because  I 
believe  it  makes  not  for  unity  but  for  disorganization  and  for 
disintegration. 

“I  wish  to  refer  briefly  to  the  history  of  the  old  sedition 
law  of  1798  and  to  quote  the  words  of  Hamilton,  which  com¬ 
pletely  express  my  views  upon  the  pending  legislation.  Ham¬ 
ilton  no  sooner  saw  the  sedition  law  which  had  been  introduced 
into  Congress  than  he  wrote: 

“  ‘Let  us  not  establish  tyranny.  Energy  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  violence.  If  we  make  no  false  step,  we  shall  be 
essentially  united  ;  but  if  we  push  things  to  extremes,  we  shall 
then  give  to  faction  body  and  solidity.’ 

“Mr.  President,  I  shall  not  take  the  time  of  the  Senate  to 
trace  all  of  the  disintegrating  influences  which  followed  the  en¬ 
actment  of  the  old  alien  and  sedition  law;  to  tell  you  how  it 
then  almost  resulted  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Republic  and  how, 
because  of  the  enactment  of  that  law,  there  was  born  that  doc¬ 
trine  of  nullification  and  secession  which  so  many  years  later 
almost  destroyed  the  Union.  It  was  the  opposition  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  to  that  law  which  led  to  the  first  sowing  of  the  seeds 
of  the  pernicious  doctrine  that  the  States  could  nullify  the  ac¬ 
tion  of  the  Federal  Government.  It  is  important,  however,  to 
remember  that  the  old  sedition  law  was  much  less  drastic  than 
the  law  which  we  are  now  enacting,  for  Bayard  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  proposed  an  amendment,  which  was  adopted, 
allowing  the  truth  to  be  offered  in  evidence.  My  dear  friend, 
the  Senator  from  Minnesota  (Mr.  Nelson),  for  whose  motives  I 
have  the  highest  regard,  one  of  the  men  who  did  not  hesitate  to 
offer  his  breast  to  the  enemy  when  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union 
was  threatened,  has  said  that  the  evil  of  sedition  exists  and 
that  we  must  find  a  remedy. 

“Physicians  know  that  there  is  a  remedy  for  every  evil,  but 
they  must  constantly  decide  the  problem  as  to  whether  the  ap¬ 
plication  of  that  remedy  will  improve  the  condition  of  the  pa¬ 
tient  or  not,  or  whether  the  remedy  will  be  worse  than  the 
disease.  This  proposed  remedy,  I  believe,  Mr.  President,  would 
do  harm,  for  it  is  intended  to  eliminate  certain  evils,  while  it 
would  indeed  extirpate  at  the  same  time  the  necessary  function 
of  free  discussion  by  word  of  mouth  and  by  the  press,  which  is 
so  indispensable  at  this  time. 

“In  this  connection  I  desire  to  read  a  statement  of  Franklin: 

“  ‘Freedom  of  speech  is  a  principal  pillar  of  a  free  govern¬ 
ment;  when  this  support  is  taken  away,  the  constitution  of  a  free 
society  is  dissolved  and  tyranny  is  erected  on  its  ruins.  Repub¬ 
lics  and  limited  monarchies  derive  their  strength  and  vigor  from 
a  popular  examination  into  the  action  of  the  magistrates;  this 
privilege  in  all  ages  has  been  and  always  will  be  abused.  The 
best  of  men  could  not  escape  the  censure  and  envy  of  the  times 


Legal  Recognition 


163 


they  lived  in.  Yet  this  evil  is  not  so  great  as  it  might  appear  at 
first  sight.  A  magistrate  who  sincerely  aims  at  the  good  of  so¬ 
ciety  will  always  have  the  inclinations  of  a  great  majority  on  his 
side,  and  an  impartial  posterity  will  not  fail  to  render  him  jus¬ 
tice.  Those  abuses  of  the  freedom  of  speech  are  the  excesses  of 
liberty.  They  ought  to  be  repressed — ’ 

“This  is  the  point — these  abuses  ought  to  be  repressed' — 

‘but  to  whom  dare  we  commit  the  care  of  doing  it?  An  evil 
magistrate,  entrusted  with  power  to  punish  for  words,  would  be 
armed  with  a  weapon  the  most  destructive  and  terrible.  Under 
pretense  of  pruning  off  the  exuberant  branches  he  would  be  apt 
to  destroy  the  tree.  (Franklin,  Works  by  Sparks,  Vol.  II,  p.  285.)’ 

“Mr.  President,  on  my  files  dealing  with  this  subject  I  have  a 
valued  quotation  from  the  Senator  from  Colorado  (Mr.  Thomas), 
for  whose  opinion  I  entertain  a  very  high  regard.  He  said  on 
April  18  of  last  year: 

“  ‘It  is  only  in  time  of  war  that  these  great  constitutional  lim¬ 
itations  upon  despotism  are  put  to  the  test.  It  is  precisely  then 
that  they  are  useful.  They  have  no  particular  moment  in  times 
of  quiet,  when  the  minds  of  men  are  diverted  to  the  pursuits  of 
peace,  when  prosperity  and  happiness  smile  over  the  land.  It  is 
only  on  occasions  like  this  when  they  become  effective  and  their 
value  is  priceless.  Consequently  it  is  at  such  times  that  we  must 
see  to  it  that  they  are  preserved,  lest  when  peace  does  return  we 
shall  realize  that  some  of  the  most  important  safeguards  of  liberty 
have  been  swept  away  in  the  torrent  of  the  conflict.’ 

“Mr.  President,  I  think  the  issue  is  clear.  I  think  it  is  per¬ 
fectly  clear  that  those  who  vote  for  this  measure  as  altered  at 
the  behest  and  under  the  direction,  as  it  seems  to  me,  of  Mr. 
John  Lord  O’Brian,  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  every  man  who 
votes  for  this  conference  report,  in  my  judgment,  votes  for 
it  because  he  has  come  to  the  conclusion,  after  careful  de¬ 
liberation,  that  at  this  time  of  national  peril  it  is  not  safe 
to  allow  the  American  people  to  ‘speak  what  is  true  from  good 
motives  and  for  justifiable  ends.’  I  do  not  set  my  judgment 
against  theirs,  but  I  do  desire  to  say  for  myself  that  I  do  not 
think  that  the  voice  of  the  people,  of  the  sovereign  people  of 
this  Republic,  should  be  silenced  at  this  time  when  the  winning 
of  the  war  depends  not  upon  Congress,  not  upon  the  Executive, 
not  upon  Washington,  but  upon  the  masses  of  the  sovereign  peo¬ 
ple  all  over  the  Republic.  I  am  thankful  that  I  do  not  enter¬ 
tain  such  an  opinion  of  that  sovereign  people  that  I  dare  in 
this  hour  to  cast  my  vote  to  deprive  them  of  that  inalienable 
right  to  ‘speak  the  truth  from  good  motives  and  for  justifiable 
ends.’ 

“If  the  great  party  of  Thomas  Jefferson  desires  to  place  itself 
upon  record  as  denying  the  people  their  inalienable  right  to  speak 
‘what  is  true  for  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends,’  then  they 
will  adopt  this  conference  report. 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  Mr.  President,  every  Senator  who  votes 
against  this  conference  report  can  have  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  he  has  voted  for  an  amendment  that  will  throw 
a  cloak  of  protection  around  every  spy  in  this  country  and  every 
traitor  and  every  Bolshevik  and  every  I.  W.  W.  that  is  denied  to 
a  loyal  American  citizen. 

“Mr.  WADSWORTH.  Mr.  President,  does  the  Senator  really 
want  to  go  upon  record  in  that  way? 


164 


Propaganda 


“Mr.  OVERMAN.  I  will  strike  out  the  word  ‘proud,’  as  I 
mean  no  disrespect  to  any  Senator  or  intent  to  impeach  in  any 
way  his  patriotism.  I  say  any  Senator  who  votes  for  that  will 
be  heard  to  admit  that  he  has  voted  for  an  amendment  to  a 
criminal  statute  that  does  not  appear  in  any  other  criminal 
statute  in  the  world  and  which  gives  the  defense  to  a  disloyal 
citizen  that  we  heretofore  in  all  our  criminal  statutes  have  never 
given  to  a  loyal  citizen.  Does  anyone  deny  that?  Is  not  that  the 
truth? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  There  is  no  Senator  on  the  floor  whose  pur¬ 
poses  at  this  time  more  nearly  coincide  with  mine  than  the 
Senator  from  North  Carolina.  We  are  looking  at  this  thing 
merely  from  different  angles. 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  I  am  not  criticising  any  Senator’s  loyalty, 
or  that  any  Senator  has  not  as  much  loyalty  as  I  have  myself. 
I  credit  that  to  every  Senator  on  this  floor,  but  I  ask  the  Sen¬ 
ator  if  there  is  any  criminal  statute  in  the  world  that  has  ever 
been  enacted  containing  such  an  amendment  as  this?  Can  he 
cite  me  one? 

“Mr.  FRANCE.  I  will  say  in  answer  to  the  Senator  that  I  do 
not  believe  there  has  been  enacted  in  any  country  since  the  Dark 
Ages  any  criminal  statute  so  framed  as  to  make  such  an  amend¬ 
ment  necessary. 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  I  repeat  it,  that  there  is  no  criminal  statute 
that  was  ever  passed  that  has  any  such  provision  in  it,  and  it 
is  giving  an  additional  burden  to  the  Government  that  ought  not 
to  be  given,  and  it  is  requiring  proof  that  is  not  required  in  any 
other  criminal  statute  in  the  world. 

“What  is  this  statute  for?  It  is  a  criminal  statute.  It  is  a 
statute  that  we  have  been  trying  to  pass  here  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Army  and  to  preserve  our  country.  We  have  been  trying 
to  pass  it  for  12  long  months,  and  we  have  had  to  fight  it  out  in 
the  Senate  for  weeks  and  weeks.  It  went  to  the  House  of  Rep¬ 
resentatives  and  comes  back  here  and  then  goes  into  confer¬ 
ence,  and  here  we  have  the  same  old  fight  again.  There  is 
delay,  delay,  delay,  and  the  war  is  going  on  and  the  Kaiser  at 
work  in  this  country  with  his  pernicious  propaganda. 

“Why  do  you  want  to  put  an  additional  provision  in  here  to 
threw  additional  burdens  on  the  prosecuting  officer  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  and  give  a  new  defense  to  all  these  men  as  to  motives 
who  are  indicted,  these  German  spies,  the  Bolshevik,  and  these 
I.  W.  W.’s?  Why  do  you  not  let  us  have  the  same  criminal  stat¬ 
utes  we  have  for  everybody  else? 

“The  Senator  from  Colorado  (Mr.  Thomas)  has  made  one  of 
the  most  lucid  arguments  that  have  been  made  in  the  Senate 
on  the  subject.  He  showed  clearly  that  nobody  has  been  able  to 
contend  against  him  as  to  his  argument  that  if  this  amendment 
is  included  in  the  bill  it  will  work  harm.  I  want  to  reinforce 
his  argument  by  an  additional  letter  sent  here  by  the  Attorney 
General.  The  Senator  from  Colorado  made  a  great  argument, 
and  I  want  to  reinforce  that  argument  by  putting  in  the  Record 
the  argument  of  the  Attorney  General  on  this  subject.  He  gives 
concrete  cases  to  show  the  harm  it  will  work  and  how  difficult  it 
will  be  to  convict  these  men.  This  criminal  .statute  is  for  the 
purpose  of  convicting  guilty  men,  not  innocent  men.  No  loyal 
citizen  can  be  convicted  under  it,  and  under  the  amendment  it  is 
believed  by  many  that  guilty  men  will  escape.  Therefore  there 
is  no  reason  for  putting  such  an  amendment  in  the  statute. 


Legal  Recognition 


165 


“Mr.  KING.  The  Senator  from  Maryland  (Mr.  France)  just 
now  said  that  outside  of  the  Dark  Ages  there  could  not  be  found 
such  a  statute  as  this.  I  should  like  to  put  into  the  Record , 
with  the  permission  of  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina,  the 
statute  which  was  passed  in  Canada  dealing  with  this  ques- 
and  cognate  ones,  and  the  statute  in  England  is  very  much  the 
same: 

“  ‘Whereas  the  ultimate  constitutional  authority,  the  people  of 
Canada,  have  determined  that  the  present  war  in  which  Canada 
with  Great  Britain  and  her  allies  is  engaged  is  a  just  war  and 
entered  upon  for  just  cause  and  from  the  highest  motives,  and  on 
that  should  be  prosecuted  without  faltering  to  a  conclusion  which 
shall  insure  the  attainment  of  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  so 
entered  upon;  and 

“  ‘Whereas  the  mind  of  the  entire  people  should  be  centered 
upon  the  proper  carrying  out  in  the  most  effective  manner  of 
that  final  decision,  and  that  all  questioning  in  the  press  or  other¬ 
wise  of  the  causes  of  that  war,  the  motives  of  Canada,  Great 
Britain,  or  the  allies  in  entering  upon  and  carrying  on  the  same, 
and  the  policies  by  them  adopted  for  its  prosecution,  must  neces¬ 
sarily  divert  attention  from  the  one  great  object  on  which  it 
should  be  so  centered,  and  tend  to  defeat  or  impede  the  effective 
carrying  out  of  that  decision;  and 

“  ‘Whereas  the  day  for  consideration  and  discussion  has 
passed,  and  the  day  for  united  action  in  execution  of  an  un¬ 
changeable  decision  has  come,  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  to 
remove  every  obstacle  and  hindrance  to  such  united  action;  and 

“  ‘Whereas  it  is  desirable  to  prohibit  the  publication  of  secret 
and  confidential  information  as  hereinafter  set  forth: 

“  ‘Therefore  His  Excellency  the  Governor  General  in  Council, 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  minister  of  justice,  under  and  in 
virtue  of  the  powers  conferred  upon  the  governor  in  council  by 
the  war-measures  act,  1914,  is  pleased  to  order  and  enact  an  order 
and  regulation,  and  the  same  is  hereby  ordered  and  enacted  in 
the  terms  following,  to  wit: 


“  ‘order  and  regulation. 

“  T.  It  shall  be  an  offense — 

“‘(a)  To  print,  publish,  or  publicly  express  any  adverse  or 
unfavorable  statement,  report  or  opinion  concerning  the  causes  of 
the  present  war  or  the  motives  or  purposes  for  which  Canada  or 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  or  any  of  the 
allied  nations  entered  upon  or  prosecutes  the  same,  which  may 
tend  to  arouse  hostile  feeling,  create  unrest,  or  unsettle  or  inflame 
public  opinion. 

“‘(b)  To  print,  publish  or  publicly  express  any  adverse  or 
unfavorable  statement,  report  or  opinion  concerning  the  action  of 
Canada,  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  or 
any  allied  nation  in  prosecuting  the  war. 

“‘(c)  To  print  or  give  public  expression  or  circulation  to 
any  false  statement  or  report  respecting  the  work  or  activities  of 
any  department,  branch  or  officer  of  the  public  service  or  the 
service  or  activities  of  Canada’s  military  or  naval  forces  which 
may  tend  to  inflame  public  opinion  and  thereby  hamper  the 
Government  of  Canada  or  prejudicially  affect  its  military  or  naval 
forces  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 


1GG 


Propaganda 


“‘(d)  To  print,  publish  or  publicly  express  any  statement 
report  or  opinion  which  may  tend  to  weaken  or  in  any  way  de¬ 
tract  from  the  united  effort  of  the  people  of  Canada  in  the  pros¬ 
ecution  of  the  war. 

“‘(e)  To  print,  publish  or  publicly  express  any  report  of  or 
to  purport  to  describe  or  to  refer  to  the  proceedings  at  any  secret 
session  of  the  house  of  commons  or  senate  held  in  pursuance  of  a 
resolution  passed  by  the  said  house  or  senate,  except  such  report 
thereof  as  may  be  officially  communicated  through  the  director  of 
public  information. 

“‘(f)  Without  lawful  authority,  to  publish  the  contents  of 
any  confidential-  document  belonging  to,  or  any  confidential  in¬ 
formation  obtained  from,  any  Government  department  or  any 
person  in  the  service  of  His  Majesty. 

“  ‘2.  Any  person  found  guilty  of  an  offense  hereunder  shall, 
upon  summary  conviction,  be  liable  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000 
or  to  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  five  years,  or  to  both  fine 
and  imprisonment.’ 

“The  Senator  will  see  this' goes  much  further  in  many  respects 
than  the  measure  which  is  now  under  consideration. 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  Of  course,  Mr.  President,  much  further. 
We  have  to  trust  somebody,  Senators,  to  administer  the  law. 
There  has  been  too  much  of  a  tendency  here  in  the  senate  to  op 
pose  good  measures  on  account  of  men.  Is  not  that  true?  Sena¬ 
tors  have  stood  here  and  fought  excellent  measures  because  of 
the  men  who  had  to  administer  them.  We  have  to  trust  some¬ 
body.  That  is  not  the  way  Senators  should  consider  a  great 
measure  which  is  to  be  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the  citizens  of 
this  entire  country. 

“I  am  not  going  further  into  the  argument,  except  to  say  that 
I  have  a  mass  of  literature  before  me — and  if  I  had  more  time  I 
should  like  to  put  some  of  it  in  the  Record — showing  that  there 
is  a  German  propaganda  going  on  in  this  country  through  re¬ 
ligious  societies.  I  have  seen  letters  in  which  it  is  stated  they 
are  trying  to  employ  what  are  called  colporteurs  to  distribute 
what  they  term  religious  tracts  and  quotations  from  the  Bible 
among  the  employees  in  all  our  manufacturing  institutions,  tell¬ 
ing  them  it  is  wrong  to  make  munitions  and  sending  out  litera¬ 
ture  of  every  kind  and  character.  I  wish  I  could  put  this  matter 
in  the  Record ,  but  there  is  too  much  of  it. 

“Now,  Mr.  President,  I  ask  that  the  Secretary  read  the  letter 
addressed  to  me  from  the  Department  of  Justice.  I  wish  I  could 
also  have  the  memorandum  attached  thereto  read,  but  it  is  some¬ 
what  long,  and  I  will  ask  that  it  be  put  into  the  Record. 

“The  Secretary  read  as  follows: 

“  ‘Department  of  Justice, 

“  * Washington ,  D.  C.,  April  26,  1918. 

“  ‘Senator  Lee  S.  Overman, 

“  ‘ United  States  Senate,  Washington,  D.  C. 

“‘My  Dear  Senator  Overman:  Judging  from  the  debate  in 
the  Senate  yesterday  the  purport  of  the  letter  addressed  to  Mr. 
Webb  on  April  16  does  not  seem  to  have  been  clear.  This  is  the 
situation: 

“  ‘As  already  pointed  out,  the  greatest  danger  to  the  country, 
internally,  today  is  the  use  of  different  sorts  of  seditious  propa¬ 
ganda,  particularly  the  false  pacifist  propaganda.  As  section  3 


Legal  Recognition 


167 


now  stands,  without  the  proviso  as  to  good  motives  and  justifiable 
ends,  the  accused  when  brought  to  trial  already  has  surrounding 
him  all  the  protection  afforded  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  guaranteeing  the  right  of  free  speech,  etc.  Further,  to 
secure  his  conviction  the  Government  must  prove  that  he  did 
willfully  the  act  complained  of,  and  it  is  also  necessary,  as  the 
courts  have  invariably  pointed  out  to  the  juries,  for  the  jury  to  be 
satisfied  that  the  acts  were  done  or  the  utterances  made  with 
intent  to  obstruct  enlistment  or  to  cause  insubordination,  etc. 
About  250  defendants  have  either  pleaded  guilty  or  have  been 
convicted  by  juries  under  this  section.  There  has  been  no  gen¬ 
eral  complaint  that  the  law  has  not  been  impartially  adminis¬ 
tered  or  that  individual  liberties  have  been  improperly  interfered 
with. 

“  ‘It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  Department  of  Jus¬ 
tice,  even  in  war  time,  believes  that  the  fullest  measure  of  consti¬ 
tutional  protection  should  be  given  to  every  defendant.  That  is 
already  accomplished  without  the  addition  of  the  proposed  proviso. 
In  this  connection  I  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  the  opinion 
recently  expressed  by  ex-President  William  H.  Taft,  who  has  been 
recently  quoted  in  the  newspapers  as  stating: 

“  *  “The  statutes  should  never  require  proof  that  the  uttering 
of  disloyal  sentiment  is  with  the  intent  to  stop  the  draft  or  to 
accomplish  some  other  treasonable  purpose.  This  is  often  diffi¬ 
cult  to  show,  and  when  it  can  be  shown  the  crime  should  be  re¬ 
garded  as  of  a  higher  order  and  should  have  severe  punishment. 
The  ground  for  penalizing  such  words  without  regard  to  the  in¬ 
tention  of  the  speaker  is  that  they  have  one  or  two  pernicious 
tendencies;  they  either  stir  those  who  hear  to  violence,  and  so 
produce  a  breach  of  the  peace,  or  they  influence  others  to  share 
in  the  sentiment,  and  thus  retard  support  of  the  war.” 

“  ‘A  few  days  ago  one  Clarence  H.  Waldron,  convicted  at  Bur¬ 
lington,  Vt.,  under  section  3,  was  sentenced  to  serve  a  term  of 
fifteen  years  for  attempts  to  cause  insubordination  in  the  mili¬ 
tary  forces,  etc.  In  his  charge  to  the  jury  in  this  case  United 
States  District  Judge  Howe  used  the  following  language: 

“  ‘  “The  Government’s  evidence  tends  to  show  that  the  defend¬ 
ant  intended  to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty,  and  refusal 
of  duty  in  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States;  the  defend¬ 
ant’s  evidence  tends  to  show  that  the  only  intention  which  he 
had  was  to  serve  God. 

“  *  “You  should  be  careful  not  to  mix  motive  with  intent. 
Motive  is  that  which  leads  to  the  act;  intent  qualifies  it.  A 
crime  may  be  committed  with  a  good  motive;  it  may  be  com¬ 
mitted  with  an  evil  motive,  or  it  may  be  committed  with  a  good 
and  an  evil  motive.  To  illustrate:  The  father  of  a  large  family 
steals  bread  for  his  starving  children  and  also  to  deprive  the 
owner  of  its  value.  He  has  two  motives;  one  is  good  and  one 
is  evil;  but  he  is  guilty,  notwithstanding  he  has  a  good  motive 
as  well  as  an  evil  motive,  for  he  must  not  steal  at  all.  So  in 
this  case  the  defendant’s  intention  to  serve  God  does  not  excuse 
him,  if  you  find  that  he  also  intended  to  cause  insubordination, 
disloyalty,  or  refusal  of  duty.” 

“‘This  is  an  accurate  statement  of  the  law;  but  if  at  the 
time  of  this  trial  the  proviso  as  to  good  motives,  justifiable  ends, 
etc.,  had  been  written  in  at  the  end  of  the  statute  the  court 
could  not  properly  have  made  the  statement  of  the  law  above  set 
forth. 


168 


Propaganda 


“  ‘As  a  lawyer,  you  will  readily  understand  what  a  cloud  of 
confusing  legal  technicalities  can  be  stirred  up  by  introducing 
collateral  questions  as  to  what  are  justifiable  ends,  the  personal 
motives  of  the  defendant,  etc.,  especially  in  cases  where  the  real 
issue  should  be  the  question  whether  the  defendant  has  willfully 
crippled  his  country  in  war  time. 

“‘The  position  of  this  department  is  this:  This  section  is 
effective  only  during  the  period  of  war.  For  nearly  a  year  the 
original  section  3  has  existed  without  the  proviso,  and  no  wrong 
has  been  done  under  it.  There  is  no  necessity  now  for  insert¬ 
ing  such  a  proviso.  Without  it  the  defendant  will  have  the  full 
measure  of  protection  guaranteed  him  by  the  Constitution,  and 
the  Government  will  be,  as  now,  required  to  prove  beyond  a 
reasonable  doubt  both  intent  and  willful  action.  To  insert  such 
a  proviso  in  the  statute  will  place  an  additional  and  unneces¬ 
sary  burden  on  the  prosecution  which  will  seriously  hamper  the 
prosecution  of  the  most  dangerous  forms  of  German  propaganda. 
This  is  not  a  statement  of  opinion,  but  a  statement  of  fact  based 
on  the  actual  experience  of  the  past  year. 

“  ‘Respectfully,  John  Lord  O’Brian, 

“  ‘ Special  Assistant  to  the  Attorney  General  for  War  Work 

“‘(For  the  Attorney  General).’ 

“The  memorandum  referred  to  is  as  follows: 

“  ‘Department  of  Justice, 

“  ‘Washington,  D.  C.,  April  25,  1918. 

“  ‘memorandum  on  pending  amendment  of  espionage  act. 

“  ‘In  the  pending  bill  to  amend  section  3,  Title  I,  of  the  espi¬ 
onage  act,  a  clause  was  inserted  in  the  Senate  reading: 

“  ‘  “ Provided ,  however,  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  con¬ 
strued  as  limiting  the  liberty  or  impairing  the  right  of  any 
individual  to  publish  or  speak  what  is  true,  with  good  motives 
and  for  justifiable  ends.” 

“  ‘At  the  suggestion  of  this  department  said  clause  was  elimi¬ 
nated  by  the  conference  committee,  and  the  pending  discussion 
in  the  Senate  relates  to  that  clause. 

“  ‘This  clause  might  be  interpreted  as  governing  all  cases 
under  section  3,  whether  arising  under  the  section  as  originally 
enacted  or  as  amended  by  the  new  act.  At  the  very  least  it 
would  govern  cases  brought  for  attempting  to  obstruct  or  dis¬ 
courage  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States, 
which  will  be  the  provision  under  which  most  cases  against 
propaganda  will  be  brought. 

“  ‘The  said  clause  relating  to  motives  and  justifiable  ends  will, 
as  a  practical  matter,  make  the  espionage  act  either  entirely  use¬ 
less  or  materially  decrease  its  usefulness  as  a  weapon  against 
pro-German  or  anti-war  propaganda. 

“  ‘Most  of  the  amendments  inserted  in  the  bill  in  the  Senate 
do  not  concern  that  which  may  be  properly  termed  “propa¬ 
ganda.”  They  are  concerned  with  disloyal,  contemptuous,  etc., 
language  about  the  form  of  government  or  the  flag  or  the  uni¬ 
form.  These  disloyal  remarks  or  outbursts,  against  which  these 
amendments  are  mainly  directed,  have  seldom  any  effectiveness 
as  propaganda.  In  fact,  the  debate  in  the  Senate  showed  that 
these  provisions  were  treated  as  police  provisions  made  neces¬ 
sary  because  the  disloyal  remarks  of  the  type  indicated  in  the 


Leya  I  It  ecoyni  ti  o  1 1 


1«9 


bill,  instead  of  causing  disloyalty,  tend  to  cause  a  passionate 
loyalty  which  expresses  itself  in  outrages  and  disorders.  Conse¬ 
quently  in  dealing  with  these  disloyal  remarks  which  are 
brought  within  the  scope  of  the  espionage  act  by  these  amend¬ 
ments  we  are  not  dealing  with  propaganda;  that  is,  effective 
propaganda  which  obstructs  the  prosecution  of  the  war  by  ob¬ 
structing  the  participation  of  the  citizens  in  military  service  or 
other  form  of  war  service. 

“  ‘The  dangerous  propaganda  seldom  takes  the  shape  of  open 
and  frank  abuse  of  the  United  States  or  praise  of  Germany.  It 
practically  never  takes  the  shape  of  advocacy  of  the  cause  of 
Germany  or  opposition  to  the  cause  of  the  United  States  in  the 
war.  It  is  seldom  if  ever  possible  to  prove  a  German  source  of 
propaganda;  that  is,  to  prove  that  the  financing  of  it  or  the 
instigation  of  it  has  a  German  source.  On  its  face  the  propa¬ 
ganda  generally  shows  a  motive  other  than  opposition  to  the 
cause  of  the  United  States  in  the  war  or  the  promotion  of  the 
cause  of  Germany;  and  it  is  seldom  if  ever  possible  to  prove 
that  there  is  a  concealed  motive  to  promote  the  cause  of  Ger¬ 
many.  Despite  its  defects  the  espionage  act  has  proved  a  fairly 
effective  weapon  against  propaganda  and  if  amended  as  sug¬ 
gested  by  this  department  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
it  will  prove  an  exceedingly  effective  weapon  against  propa¬ 
ganda.  Its  effectiveness,  however,  for  this  purpose  has  come  and 
must  necessarily  come  from  the  principle  that  the  motive 
prompting  the  propaganda  is  irrelevant  and  that  the  criminal 
nature  of  the  propaganda  is  dependent  either  upon  the  intent 
of  it  or  upon  the  natural  or  necessary  effects  of  it.  To  make  the 
question  of  motive  relevant,  as  the  said  clause  proposes,  would 
be  introducing  an  element  which  would  enormously  increase  the 
diffculty  of  successful  prosecution  and  enormously  decrease  the 
value  of  the  espionage  act  as  a  deterrent  of  propaganda.  Let 
me  illustrate  this  by  referring  briefly  to  four  or  five  of  the  cur¬ 
rent  types  of  dangerous  and  effective  propaganda. 

“‘One  of  these  types  may  be  classed  as  religious  or  Christian 
pacifism;  that  is,  opposition  to  participation  in  the  war  on  the 
ground  that  such  participation  is  opposed  to  the  tenets  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  the  word  of  God.  As  we  know  from  authoritative 
information,  it  was  this  type  of  propaganda  which  was  exten¬ 
sively  effective  in  the  weakening  of  the  Italian  Army  which 
caused  the  great  Italian  retreat.  It  would,  if  permitted  to 
spread,  tend  to  weaken  the  fighting  effectiveness  of  any  nation. 
On  its  face  this  type  of  propaganda  has  the  highest  possible  mo¬ 
tive,  namely,  the  purely  religious  motive,  and  that  is  often  the 
real  motive.  Even  where  not  the  real  motive,  any  other  motive 
would  be  generally  impossible  to  prove.  The  statements  made 
in  this  propaganda  consist  generally  of  quotations  from  the 
Bible  and  interpretations  thereof,  so  that  the  statements  of  fact 
therein  contained  are  generally  true  or  at  least  can  not  be  shown 
to  be  untrue.  Convictions  against  this  type  of  propaganda  are 
only  possible  where  the  motive  is  irrelevant  and  the  intent  of 
the  propaganda  or  the  natural  effect  of  the  propaganda  is  the 
determining  factor.  Another  class  of  effective  propaganda,  by 
which  I  mean  propaganda  which  has  an  effectiveness  in  dimin¬ 
ishing  the  fighting  force  of  the  Nation  and  contains  the  dangers 
of  actually  disintegrating  the  fighting  force  of  the  Nation,  is 
that  which  is  engaged  in  promoting  the  proletariat  revolution. 
Its  cardinal  principle  is  that  hostility  between  nations  is  due  to 
commercial  and  capitalistic  rivalry;  that  the  real  hostility  is 


0 


Propaganda 


between  the  proletariat  of  all  nations  and  the  capitalists  of  all 
nations.  We  know  that  this  type  of  propaganda  has  had  seri¬ 
ous  results  in  weakening  the  fighting  effectiveness  of  Russia.  It 
contains  few  assertions  of  facts,  at  any  rate;  assertions  of  facts 
can  easily  be  avoided  without  reducing  the  effectiveness  of  the 
propaganda.  On  its  face  its  motive  is  not  treasonable;  that  is, 
on  its  face  its  motive  is  not  to  assist  the  enemy.  Where  a  trea¬ 
sonable  motive  exists,  this  motive  is  concealed  and  seldom  dis¬ 
coverable.  To  introduce  the  element  of  motive  is  to  render  the 
statute  practically  useless  against  this  type  of  propaganda. 

“  ‘Another  type  analogous  to  the  previous  type  is  that  which 
promotes  the  theory  that  international  socialism  is  opposed  in 
principle  to  this  war.  The  promotion  of  international  socialism 
can  not,  when  representing  genuine  convictions,  be  attributed  to 
bad  motives.  It  represents  one  theory  as  to  the  best  way  of 
promoting  human  happiness,  and  the  promotion  of  human  hap¬ 
piness  is  a  good  motive.  Yet  this  propaganda  sometimes  takes 
a  shape  which  might  have  great  effectiveness  in  obstructing  war 
preparation  and  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

“  ‘Another  type  is  that  which  is  engaged  in  the  promotion  of 
greater  equality  of  treatment  of  the  negro,  and  proclaims  that 
the  requirement  of  military  service  on  the  part  of  the  negro  en¬ 
titles  him  to  be  free  from  lynchings  and  various  social  and  politi¬ 
cal  discriminations.  The  statements  of  fact  used  in  this  propa¬ 
ganda  are  frequently  true.  The  promotion  of  better  conditions 
for  the  negro  often  is  and  may  be  based  upon  good  motives;  yet 
this  propaganda  often  shows  the  intent  and  more  often  shows 
the  tendency  or  natural  effect  of  obstructing  the  war. 

“  ‘Many  other  types  of  dangerous  or  effective  propaganda 
based  on  good  motives,  or  at  least  where  proof  of  disloyal  motive 
is  practically  never  available,  could  be  added.  In  short,  the  well- 
known  distinction  in  criminal  law  between  motive  and  intent 
is  a  distinction  upon  which  the  effectiveness  of  the  espionage 
act  as  a  weapon  against  dangerous  anti-war  propaganda  largely 
depends. 

“  ‘To  make  the  question  of  motive  relevant  in  these  cases,  as 
would  be  done  if  the  said  clause  were  retained,  would  most  seri¬ 
ously  impair,  if  not  totally  destroy,  the  effectiveness  of  the  espi¬ 
onage  act  against  those  types  of  propaganda  which  are  really 
the  most  dangerous  or  effective  types. 

“  ‘The  recent  trial  in  the  district  of  Vermont  of  Clarence  H. 
Waldron  may  furnish  an  illustration.  The  charge  of  the  court 
in  that  case  has  been  incorporated  in  Bulletin  No.  79  of  the  In¬ 
terpretation  of  War  Statutes,  a  copy  of  which  is  hereto  attached. 
On  page  6  it  will  be  noted  that  the  court  told  the  jury  to  be 
careful  and  not  mix  motive  with  intent,  as  a  crime  may  be  com¬ 
mitted  with  a  good  motive.  If  the  proposed  clause  were  inserted 
in  the  bill,  not  only  would  the  court  have  been  forced  to  omit 
all  reference  to  this  well-known  distinction  between  motive  and 
intent,  but,  on  the  contrary,  would  have  felt  it  necessary  to 
inform  the  jury  that  it  could  take  the  motive  of  the  defendant 
into  account  and  would  have  to  acquit  him  if  it  felt  that  the 
utterances  made  by  him  had  been  made  with  a  good  motive. 

“  ‘The  prevalence  in  the  country  of  certain  kinds  of  disloyal 
expressions  bearing  some  analogy  to  the  old  types  of  libel  of  the 
Government  has  quite  naturally  caused  the  Senate  to  insert  a 
clause  taken  from  the  history  of  the  law  of  libel.  This  clause 
has  no  appropriate  place,  however,  in  a  statute  or  part  of  a 
statute  dealing  with  modern  war  propaganda.  If  it  is  to  be  re- 


Legal  Recognition 


171 


tained  in  the  act  at  all,  it  should  be  most  carefully  limited  to 
those  portions  of  the  act  which  are  analogous  to  the  law  of 
libel,  as,  for  instance,  those  provisions  directed  against  disloyal 
or  abusive  language  about  the  form  of  government  of  the  United 
States  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  the  military 
forces  of  the  United  States,  etc. 

“  ‘All  questions  of  motive  should  be  most  carefully  excluded 
from  those  provisions  of  the  statute  under  which  the  more  sub¬ 
tle,  dangerous,  and  effective  types  of  anti-war  propaganda  will 
have  to  be  fought.’ 

“Mr.  OVERMAN.  I  desire  also  to  put  in  the  Record  another 
memorandum  which  has  been  sent  to  me  by  the  Attorney  Gen¬ 
eral,  showing  how  the  France  amendment  would  impose  such  a 
burden  on  him  that  he  doubts  whether  in  many  cases  he  could 
convict  guilty  men  if  the  amendment  is  left  in  the  bill. 

“The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  Without  objection,  it  is  so  or¬ 
dered. 

“The  memorandum  referred  to  is  as  follows: 

“  ‘memorandum  on  the  proposed  amendment  to  SECTION  3,  TITLE  I. 

OF  THE  ESPIONAGE  LAW. 

“  ‘The  opinion  of  the  Military  Intelligence  Branch  is  entirely 
adverse  to  the  amendment  to  the  espionage  law  to  the  effect  that 
section  3,  Title  I,  shall  not  apply  to  those  who  utter  “what  is 
true,  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends.” 

“‘Experience  teaches. that  such  an  amendment  would  to  a 
large  degree  nullify  the  value  of  the  law  and  turn  every  trial 
into  an  academic  debate  on  insoluble  riddles  as  to  what  is  true. 
Human  motives  are  too  complicated  to  be  discussed,  and  the 
word  “justifiable”  is  too  elastic  for  practical  use. 

“  ‘There  could  hardly  be  less  harm  in  a  law  saying  that  a 
soldier  shall  not  be  punished  for  disobedience,  provided  he  bases 
his  refusal  to  serve  on  grounds  that  are  true  and  justifiable  and 
proves  that  his  motives  are  pure.  Our  soldiers  temporarily  sur¬ 
render  their  liberties  of  thought  and  speech  and  action  in  order 
that  they  may  save  them  for  the  future.  The  whole  Nation  must 
subject  itself  to  discipline  until  after  the  war.  Otherwise  in 
defending  liberties  in  detail,  we  may  lose  liberty  altogether. 

“  ‘In  every  division  camp  there  are  so-called  “conscientious 
objectors”  who  refuse  to  do  any  military  duty  whatsoever.  They 
endeavor  to  spread  their  policy  throughout  the  camps.  They 
are  stimulated  by  numerous  publishers  and  orators.  The  Intelli¬ 
gence  Service  has  in  its  files  great  quantities  of  books,  periodi¬ 
cals,  circulars,  and  letters  intercepted  and  confiscated.  The  truth 
of  these  documents  depends  on  the  point  of  view  of  the  reader. 
The  motives  alleged  are  the  highest  and  yet  their  unrestricted 
dissemination  could  only  serve  to  stir  men  up  to  mutiny  and 
tend  to  disintegrate  our  entire  Army. 

“  ‘One  of  the  most  dangerous  examples  of  this  sort  of  propa¬ 
ganda  is  the  book  called  “The  Finished  Mystery,”  a  work  written 
in  extremely  religious  language  and  distributed  in  enormous 
numbers.  The  only  effect  of  it  is  to  lead  soldiers  to  discredit 
our  cause  and  to  inspire  a  feeling  at  home  of  resistance  to  the 
draft. 

“  ‘The  Kingdom  News ,  of  Brooklyn,  prints  a  petition  demand¬ 
ing  that  restrictions  on  “The  Finished  Mystery”  and  similar 
works  should  be  removed  “so  that  people  may  be  permitted, 
without  interference  or  molestation,  to  buy,  sell,  have  and  read 


172 


Propaganda 


this  aid  to  Bible  study.”  The  passage  of  this  amendment  would 
reopen  our  camps  to  this  poisonous  influence. 

“  ‘The  International  Bible  Students  Association  pretends  to 
the  most  religious  motives,  yet  we  have  found  that  its  headquar¬ 
ters  have  long  been  reported  as  the  resort  of  German  agents. 

“  ‘Shakespeare  wisely  said  that  “the  devil  may  quote  Scrip¬ 
ture  to  his  own  purposes,”  and  the  Germans  are  peculiarly  fond 
of  abusing  the  religious  spirit.  The  Kaiser  appeals  for  obedi¬ 
ence  to  his  every  behest  on  the  claim  that  he  is  the  divine  rep¬ 
resentative  and  spokesman.  The  German  clergy  has  been  a  unit 
both  at  home  and  throughout  this  country  in  denouncing  all  re¬ 
sistance  to  the  Kaiser  as  impious. 

“  ‘The  collapse  of  the  Italian  Army  last  year  was  largely  due 
to  the  religious  literature  printed  in  Italian  and  dropped  among 
the  troops  by  Austrian  airships.  The  Germans  have  recently 
dropped  among  the  British  troops  thousands  of  copies  of  a  ser¬ 
mon  by  the  Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes  with  a  view  to  stirring 
up  mutiny.  This  preacher  resides  in  America  and  is  linked 
with  “The  Finished  Mystery”  group.  His  motives  are  fanatic¬ 
ally  sincere,  and  he  thinks  his  ends  justifiable,  yet  it  is  evident 
that  if  his  sermons  appeal  to  the  Germans  as  ammunition  they 
must  be  dangerous  in  our  country.  The  amendment  proposed 
would  leave  such  preachers  to  unrestricted  sedition. 

“  ‘The  gospel  of  sabotage  is  preached  by  many  eminent  pro¬ 
fessors  in  eloquent  terms.  Destruction  of  property,  ruination  of 
sawmills,  burning  of  crops,  sinking  of  ships,  are  all  advocated 
as  acts  of  high  principle  looking  toward  the  betterment  of  labor. 
The  result  is  the  hampering  of  military  success;  and  it  is  the 
result,  not  the  motive,  that  must  be  guarded  against.  The  dam¬ 
age  to  life,  property,  and  efficiency  already  done  by  these  doc¬ 
trines  is  great,  and  they  threaten  greater  damage. 

“  ‘The  motives  of  a  negro  preaching  the  elevation  of  his  race 
could  hardly  be  attacked  as  bad,  yet  the  result  may  be  equivalent 
to  the  prevention  of  reinforcements.  G.  H.  Mason,  a  negro  pas¬ 
tor  of  Jackson,  Miss.,  preached  resistance  to  the  draft,  with  the 
result  that  only  31  out  of  63  negro  registrants  in  that  county 
responded  to  the  call. 

“  ‘There  is  no  more  dangerous  element  in  this  country  than 
that  which  conscientiously  battles  for  unlimited  individual  free¬ 
dom  of  act  and  speech  at  this  time.  The  persons  assume  the 
highest  ethical  and  philosophical  grounds,  but  their  influence  is 
as  paralyzing  as  that  of  the  fanatics  whose  motives  are  so  ear¬ 
nest  that  they  will  commit  arson,  murder,  or  suicide  to  register 
their  beliefs. 

“  ‘The  motives  of  the  Bolsheviki  in  Russia  were  good,  their 
ends  justifiable  in  their  eyes,  and  their  criticisms  of  the  admin¬ 
istrations  were  true;  but  they  overlooked  the  military  danger  of 
such  discussions,  with  the  result  that  the  soldiers  shot  nobody 
but  their  own  officers  and  their  fellow  citizens,  and  the  Germans 
are  still  marching  almost  unresisted  across  the  prostrate  nation 
in  spite  of  a  treaty  of  peace. 

“  ‘The  only  ones  who  have  profited  by  the  Russian  excess  of 
liberty  are  the  Germans,  who  do  not  believe  in  personal  freedom 
except  in  the  countries  they  wirh  to  conquer. 

“  ‘The  passage  of  this  amendment  would  greatly  weaken  Amer¬ 
ican  efficiency  and  help  none  but  the  enemy.  Results,  not  mo¬ 
tives,  count  in  war;  therefore  the  law  and  its  executors  should 
be  concerned  with  procuring  desirable  and  preventing  dangerous 
results,  leaving  motives  to  the  mercy  of  the  judges  or  to  the  per¬ 
spective  of  historians.’ 


Legal  Recognition 


173 

“Mr.  KING.  The  other  day  during  the  discussion  of  one 
phase  of  this  conference  report,  particularly  that  to  which  the 
Senator  from  Idaho  (Mr.  Borah)  addressed  himself,  attention  was 
called  to  the  fraud  statute  and  to  the  holdings  of  the  court  in 
respect  to  that  statute.  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the  So¬ 
licitor  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  I  should  like  to  have 
it  read  at  this  time  as  a  part  of  the  discussion  upon  this  phase 
of  the  conference  report. 

“The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.  The  Chair  hears  no  objection, 
and  the  letter  referred  to  by  the  Senator  from  Utah  will  be  read. 

“The  Secretary  read  as  follows: 

“  ‘Post  Office  Department, 

“  ‘ Washington ,  May  4,  1918. 

“  ‘Hon.  William  H.  King, 

“  ‘ United  States  Senate ,  Washington,  D.  G. 

“‘My  Dear  Senator  King:  I  read  in  the  Record  this  morn¬ 
ing  the  speeches  in  the  Senate  of  yesterday  and  your  remarks 
in  the  course  of  the  debate. 

“  ‘The  language  of  section  4  under  discussion  is  identical  with 
that  of  the  fraud  statute,  and  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  dis¬ 
tinction  between  the  practical  operation  of  the  two  measures. 
The  fraud  statute  itself  does  not  provide  for  a  hearing,  nor  does 
it  provide  that  a  fraud  order  shall  only  be  issued  against  per¬ 
sons  who  have  been  convicted  of  the  fraud,  as  one  might  assume 
from  the  remarks  of  Senators. 

“  ‘The  Postmaster  General  would  at  the  present  time  have  as 
much  power  to  issue  fraud  orders  against  newspapers  for  politi¬ 
cal  purposes  or  in  order  to  accomplish  any  of  the  purposes  sug¬ 
gested  by  Senators  in  furtherance  of  political  interests  under  the 
existing  fraud  statute  as  he  would  have  to  issue  orders  for  the 
return  of  such  mail  under  section  4  of  the  bill.  The  fraud  statute 
itself  does  not  even  provide  for  a  hearing.  As  a  matter  of 
practice  and  in  order  to  administer  absolute  justice,  full  hear¬ 
ings  are  held  in  fraud  cases;  that  is,  where  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  fraud  does  not  appear  upon  the  face  of  the  papers  before 
the  department.  This  practice  would  undoubtedly  be  extended 
to  cover  seditious  cases,  but  in  the  latter  class  much  of  the  illegal 
matter  under  the  espionage  act  would  appear  on  the  very  face 
of  the  literature  being  circulated,  which  would  make  a  hearing 
unnecessary  in  some  cases.  In  fact,  the  public  interests  might 
seriously  suffer  by  permitting  the  continued  use  of  the  mails  to 
one  sending  literature  manifestly  in  violation  of  the  espionage 
act  pending  such  hearing. 

“  ‘Nor  does  the  analogy  between  the  fraud  statute  and  the 
proposed  law  stop  at  what  has  been  said.  The  fraud  statute 
does  not  provide  in  terms  for  a  review  by  the  courts,  but  it  is 
settled  law  that  the  equity  courts  have  jurisdiction  to  restrain 
orders  of  the  Postmaster  General  where  they  are  issued  contrary 
to  law  or  where  for  any  reason  it  appears  the  Postmaster  Gen¬ 
eral  has  acted  in  an  arbitrary  or  capricious  manner. 

“  ‘This  is  a  war  measure  and  is  intended  to  prevent  this 
great  governmental  instrumentality — the  mails — from  being  used 
against  the  interest  of  the  Government  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
war.  The  equity  courts  would  have  the  same  jurisdiction  to 
restrain  improper  orders  of  the  Postmaster  General  under  sec¬ 
tion  4  of  this  proposed  bill  that  they  now  have  under  the  fraud 
statute.  If  the  Postmaster  General  should  attempt  to  use  this 


174 


Propaganda 


power  for  other  purposes,  political  or  otherwise,  such  as  has 
been  suggested  in  the  course  of  the  debate,  he  would  not  only 
violate  the  law  himself,  a  remedy  for  which  would  immediately 
be  available  in  injunction  proceedings,  but  make  himself  the 
object  of  ridicule  and  contempt  of  the  American  people,  with 
the  result  that  instead  of  accomplishing  any  political  advantage 
such  action  would  be  a  political  boomerang. 

“  ‘There  is  a  further  analogy  between  this  class  of  legislation 
and  fraud  legislation.  Not  only  has  Congress  provided  for  the 
issuance  of  fraud  orders  by  the  Post  Office  Department  upon 
evidence  satisfactory  to  the  Postmaster  General,  but,  as  in  the 
matter  under  consideration,  there  is  a  companion  criminal  stat¬ 
ute  making  it  a  penal  offense  to  use  the  mails  for  fraudulent  pur¬ 
poses.  The  delays  incident  and  the  technicalities  resorted  to  in 
criminal  proceedings  have  demonstrated  beyond  any  doubt  that 
the  preventive  measure  employed  by  the  Post  Office  Department 
is  infinitely  more  effective  in  preventing  frauds  than  the  crimi¬ 
nal  provision.  The  fact  is  that  the  action  of  the  Post  Office 
Department  in  detecting  frauds  has  furnished  the  information 
upon  which  criminal  prosecutions  have  followed. 

“  ‘The  recent  case  of  the  Masses  Publishing  Co.,  where  the 
magazine  has  been  barred  from  the  mails  since  last  July,  and 
where  the  courts  have  sustained  the  action  of  the  department, 
but  where  the  criminal  proceedings  are  still  pending  after  one 
mistrial,  is  an  example  of  the  relative  efficiency  of  the  two  meth¬ 
ods  in  handling  seditious  matter.  The  Masses  case  is  merely 
typical.  In  many  such  cases  it  takes  years  to  bring  offenders 
to  trial  in  fraud  cases. 

“  ‘Much  of  the  seditious  matter  that  is  now  being  circulated 
is  distributed  by  persons  or  concerns  throughout  the  country  in 
circular  form  and  is  accompanied  by  urgent  solicitations  for 
funds  to  continue  the  propaganda  work,  and  hundreds  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  dollars  are  being  sent  through  the  mails  to  the  dis¬ 
tributors  of  such  literature.  The  proposed  section  4  would  en¬ 
able  the  Post  Office  Department  to  promptly  reach  and  suppress 
this  evil.  The  propagandists  now  engaged  in  this  work  in  most 
cases  are  willing  to  serve  prison  sentences  if  they  are  only  per¬ 
mitted  to  conduct  the  propaganda.  They  are  largely  of  a  class 
who  have  nothing  to  lose  by  a  prison  sentence,  and,  in  fact, 
such  sentence  simply  brings  the  martyrdom  they  seek  in  the 
eyes  of  those  whom  they  endeavor  to  mislead. 

“  ‘I  may  add,  in  conclusion,  that  the  practice  in  the  depart¬ 
ment  in  all  cases  where  fraud  orders  or  similar  orders  of  the 
Postmaster  General  are  made  is  that  a  finding  of  the  facts  before 
the  department  is  made  up  by  the  solicitor  for  the  department 
and  form  a  part  of  the  record  of  the  case  and  are  made  a  part 
of  the  order  of  the  Postmaster  General,  all  of  which  are  available 
to  the  interested  parties  for  use  in  the  courts  or  otherwise. 

“  ‘The  theory  underlying  fraud,  lottery,  and  other  similar  stat¬ 
utes  is  that  the  matter  prevented  from  being  carried  in  the  mails 
is  against  public  policy.  If  the  practice  of  a  fraud  which  only 
affects  a  few  individuals  is  against  public  policy,  how  much  more 
against  public  policy  is  the  circulation  of  matter  which  in  time 
of  war  strikes  at  the  very  heart  of  the  Republic?  And  why 
should  not  all  use  of  the  mails  be  prohibited  to  one  engaged  in 
such  undertaking? 

“  ‘Very  truly  yours, 


“  ‘W.  H.  Lamar,  Solicitor .’ 


Legal  Recognition 


175 


“Mr.  FLETCHER.  There  is  need  of  this  legislation,  Mr. 
President.  It  began,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  trace  briefly  its 
history,  in  a  very  innocent  sort  of  way.  It  was  suggested  by 
the  Department  of  Justice,  because  we  had  inadvertently  over¬ 
looked  in  the  original  act,  approved  June  15,  1917,  the  language 
found  in  section  3  of  the  pending  measure,  which  applies  to 
‘causing  or  attempting  to  cause  insubordination,  disloyalty,  mu¬ 
tiny,  or  refusal  of  duty.’ 

“In  the  next  portion  of  that  section  we  use  the  language — 

“  ‘or  shall  willfully  obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service 
of  the  United  States  to  the  injury  of  the  service  of  the  United 
States — ’ 

“Omitting  the  words  ‘or  attempt  to  obstruct.’ 

“Cases  arose  where  it  was  difficult  to  prove  an  actual  ob¬ 
struction  to  the  recruiting  or  enlistment,  but  there  was  an  effort 
made  to  obstruct.  Attempts  were  made.  The  intention  was 
there.  The  purpose  was  there.  The  motive  was  there.  Every¬ 
thing  which  the  law  condemned  was  there,  but  it  did  not  actu¬ 
ally  result  in  preventing  or  obstructing  the  enlistment  or  the 
recruiting.  Now,  we  had  overlooked  the  use  of  those  words  ‘or 
attempt’  to  do  these  things.  We  used  them  in  the  first  part  of 
section  3  of  the  original  act,  and  omitted  them  in  this  part  of 
the  section.  They  are  absolutely  necessary  words.  So  that 
this  measure  was  proposed  in  the  House  in  order  to  cure  that 
defect;  and  you  will  find,  referring  now  to  section  3,  that  about 
all  that  was  added  in  the  original  bill  was  this  language  in 
line  15: 

“  ‘Or  shall  willfully  obstruct  or  willfully  attempt  to  obstruct 
the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States.’ 

“That  was  primarily  the  purpose  of  the  bill  when  it  was  in¬ 
troduced.  It  came  to  the  Senate,  was  referred  to  the  Commit¬ 
tee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  there  certain  amendments  were  offered; 
and  the  amendment  reported  by  the  committee,  which  is  num¬ 
bered  5,  and  some  others  were  agreed  to  in  the  Senate.  There 
was  an  added  amendment,  numbered  6,  offered  by  the  Senator 
from  Maryland  (Mr.  France)  in  the  Senate. 

“The  House  disagreed  to  these  amendments,  and  asked  for  a 
conference.  We  agreed  to  the  conference,  and  the  conferees  then 
took  up  the  measure.  The  House  conferees  were  willing  to 
accept  the  Senate  amendment  numbered  4,  provided  we  struck 
out  the  useless  words — I  regard  them  as  useless — ‘or  discourage’ 
as  they  appear  in  lines  15  and  16,  so  as  to  leave  the  act: 

“  ‘Or  shall  willfully  obstruct  or  willfully  attempt  to  obstruct 
the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of  the  United  States.’ 

“There  is  no  use  in  using  the  words  ‘discourage  or  attempt 
to  discourage,’  as  we  conceived;  and  we  agreed  with  the  House 
conferees  upon  that  proposition.  They  agreed  to  the  other 
amendments  proposed  and  adopted  in  the  Senate,  with  the  ad¬ 
dition  in  line  23  of  page  4  of  the  words  I  have  just  mentioned: 

“  ‘When  the  United  States  is  at  war  the  Postmaster  General 
may — ’ 

“And  so  forth.  They  insisted  upon  disagreeing  to  amendment 
numbered  6,  which  is  the  matter  offered  b)r  the  Senator  from 
Maryland,  in  this  language: 

“  ‘ Provided ,  however.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  con¬ 
strued  as  limiting  the  liberty  or  impairing  the  right  of  any  in¬ 
dividual  to  publish  or  speak  what  is  true,  with  good  motives,  and 
for  justifiable  ends.’ 


176 


Propaganda 


“The  Senate  conferees  were  obliged  to  yield  on  that  amend¬ 
ment;  and  the  report  comes  here  practically  with  that  the  only 
change  made  in  the  action  of  the  Senate — the  omission  of  that 
proviso  from  the  bill — if  the  conference  report  is  agreed  to. 

“The  effect  of  such  a  proviso  in  this  measure  would  be  to 
place  upon  the  Government  the  burden  of  proving  what?  Either 
one  of  these  offenses  mentioned  in  amendment  numbered  5,  for 
instance,  that  the  defendant  did — 

“  ‘willfully  utter,  print,  write,  or  publish  any  disloyal,  profane, 
scurrilous,  contemptuous,  or  abusive  language  about  the  form 
of  government  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Constitution  of  the 
tJnited  States,  or  the  military  or  naval  forces  of  the  United 
States.’ 

“You  not  only  must  prove  that  as  a  fact  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt  in  order  to  secure  a  conviction,  but,  if  the  defendant  is 
permitted  to  set  up  as  a  defense  that  what  he  said  was  true,  and 
was  said  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends,  then  the 
Government  must  meet  that,  and  carry  the  burden  of  proving 
beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  not  only  that  these  things  were 
uttered  which  the  language  of  the  law  condemns,  but  that  they 
were  not  true,  that  they  were  not  uttered  with  good  motives, 
nor  were  they  uttered  for  justifiable  ends.  Therefore,  in  order 
to  secure  a  conviction  under  this  act,  the  Government  would 
have  to  establish  not  only  that  the  defendant  did  or  said  the 
things  that  are  condemned  by  the  act,  but,  in  addition,  beyond 
a  reasonable  doubt,  that  those  things  were  not  true  that  he  said 
or  did,  that  they  were  not  said  or  done  with  good  motives,  and 
that  they  were  not  said  or  done  for  justifiable  ends. 

The  court  would  be  obliged  to  instruct  the  jury,  if  requested 
by  the  defendant — as  of  course  it  would  be — that  the  burden  was 
on  the  Government  to  establish  not  only  the  fact  that  the  de¬ 
fendant  uttered  this  contemptuous,  abusive,  or  profane  language 
regarding  the  Government  or  the  flag  or  the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States,  but  that  what  he  said  was  not  true, 
and  was  not  uttered  with  good  motives  or  for  justifiable  ends.  I 
think  if  you  put  this  provision  in  the  law  you  will  impose  upon 
the  Government  the  additional  burden  not  only  of  proving  the 
facts  denounced  in  the  bill  but  of  proving  that  they  were  not 
true,  and  that  they  were  not  uttered  with  good  motives  and  for 
justifiable  ends.  It  hampers  the  Government.  It  gives  the  de¬ 
fendant  the  opportunity  of  coming  into  court  with  a  plea  under 
which  he  can  exploit  his  views,  under  which  he  can  read  extracts 
from  various  authors  by  way  of  establishing  the  truth  of  what 
he  has  said,  and  by  way  of  undertaking  to  justify  the  ends  which 
he  aimed  to  accomplish  and  the  motives  which  prompted  him.’’ 

At  the  end  of  the  debate  a  vote  was  taken,  the  France  amend¬ 
ment  was  rejected,  and  the  bill  was  passed.  It  was  later  signed 
bv  the  President  and  became  law.  It  is  generally  known  as  the 
Disloyalty  Act  or  the  Amended  Espionage  Act  in  distinction  from 
the  previous  Espionage  Act. 

This  new  law  is  admittedly  a  dangerous  weapon,  but  so  is  a 
rifle  or  a  cannon.  Like  them,  this  law  is  a  military  arm  intended 
for  defense  against  our  enemies.  The  Department  of  Justice,  which 
desired  the  law,  may  be  trusted  to  wield  it  with  caution.  It  has 


Legal  Recognition 


ITT 


been  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  deserving  its  right  to  the 
word  “Justice,”  and  the  public  in  general  feels  as  safe  in  entrusting 
it  with  this  weapon  as  in  arming  our  soldiers.  One  of  the  leading 
jurists  in  the  Department  of  Justice  has  made  this  comment  on  the 
amended  Espionage  Act : 

“In  prosecutions  for  propaganda  justice  to  the  defendant  is 
as  important  as  any  other  consideration.  Any  failure  of  our  Gov¬ 
ernment  to  produce  justice  to  persons  accused  of  disloyalty  or 
sedition,  is  just  as  dangerous,  if  not  more  dangerous,  to  our  fighting 
strength  as  a  nation  than  propaganda  itself.  Jurors  are  impartial 
triers  of  fact,  not  prosecutors,  and  there  is  but  one  way  in  which 
they  can  legitimately  fight  propaganda,’  and  that  is  to  base  their 
verdicts  upon  the  facts  of  the  case  before  them  and  the  law  as  laid 
down  by  the  court. 

“The  strength  of  the  Espionage  Act  is  remarkable;  some  of  our 
most  loyal  citizens  feel  that  it  is  too  strong.  But  in  the  end  its 
strength,  its  endurance,  its  effectiveness  will  come  from  the  fact 
that  it  preserves  our  constitutional  right  of  free  speech  while  at 
the  same  time  furnishing  a  weapon  against  that  which  is  essentially 
hostile  propaganda. 

“Once  suggest  to  the  courts  that  the  proper  policy  and  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  the  Espionage  Act  are  to  suspend,  under  the  exigency  of 
war,  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech,  and  the  power  of  the 
Espionage  Act  will  be  gone;  for  no  courts  will  enforce  such  an 
idea  and  American  juries  will  not  for  a  long  time  enforce  such 
an  idea. 

“There  never  has  been  the  right  by  speech  to  obstruct  the  car¬ 
rying  out  of  the  policies  of  the  Government,  and  the  Espionage 
Law  does  not  suspend  any  constitutional  right  of  free  speech. 
Herein  lies  its  strength. 

“In  my  opinion,  next  to  President  Wilson  and  the  Selective 
Service  Act,  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  administration 
of  justice  between  the  Government  and  the  individual  by  the  Fed¬ 
eral  courts,  is  the  strongest  cementing  or  unifying  force  that  we 
have.  Administering  justice  according  to  law  is  the  special  con¬ 
tribution  of  the  courts  to  the  war.” 


178 


Propaganda 


RESUME. 

Voluminous  as  this  discussion  of  German  propaganda  has  been,, 
it  gives  merely  a  hint  of  its  magnitude  and  infinite  variety.  One 
might  feel  a  sense  of  profound  admiration  for  the  thoroughness 
and  minuteness  of  its  conduct,  were  not  one  so  revolted  bv  its  un- 
scrupulous  contempt  for  truth,  dignity,  or  mercy.  It  reveals  a 
frightful  eagerness  to  lie,  a  degenerate  rapture  in  viciousness  that 
can  not  be  matched  in  history.  The  policy  of  ruthlessness  stops  at 
nothing  from  pin  pricks  to  wholesale  assassination. 

But  despicable  as  it  is  in  spirit  and  in  achievement,  it  is  a 
further  evidence  of  an  imperial  determination  to  rule  everywhere 
at  all  costs,  and  its  menace  demands  eternal  vigilance.  The  first 
manifestations  of  it,  the  first  experimental  reconnaissances  and 
raids  must  be  met  at  every  point  and  checked  or  they  will  develop 
into  disasters. 

In  fighting  a  war  as  in  fighting  any  other  duel  or  meeting  any 
other  assault,  the  aggressor  selects  the  time  and  the  place,  dictates 
the  weapons  and  the  modes  of  attack.  The  defendant  must  adopt 
such  means  of  protection  as  will  meet  the  attack.  Any  hesitancy 
or  any  delicacy  may  be  fatal.  Any  treachery  at  home  must  be  in¬ 
stantly  crushed.  It  is  furthermore  vitally  necessary  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  as  vigorously  as  possible,  to  take  the  aggressive  away 
from  the  aggressor  and  create  new  weapons  and  better  stratagems. 

In  literal  confirmation  of  the  thesis  of  this  book  that  propa¬ 
ganda  is  one  of  the  munitions  of  war,  the  papers  of  July  7,  1918, 
contain  accounts  of  the  American  methods  of  shooting  our  propa¬ 
ganda  into  the  German  lines  from  rifles. 

Mr.  James  Kerney,  director  of  the  Franco- American  Committee 
of  Public  Information,  thus  describes  some  of  the  devices: 

“Paris,  July  7. — Thousands  of  specially  devised  rifles  for 
sending  propaganda  over  the  enemy  lines  now  are  in  use  in  the 
allied  armies.  From  these  rifles  grenades  are  discharged,  by 
means  of  which  tracts  and  pamphlets  may  be  scattered  along 
enemy  trenches  with  considerable  exactitude  at  a  range  of  more 
than  200  yards. 

“For  greater  distances  small  balloons  made  of  cloth  are  used. 
Each  of  these  lifts  twenty  pounds  of  propaganda  literature  and 
by  means  of  a  mechanical  device  drops  a  quarter-pound  of  these 
documents  at  fifteen-minute  intervals.  The  radius  of  action  of 
these  balloons  in  a  25-mile  wind  would  be  Hamburg,  Berlin, 
Vienna  and  Trieste.  The  balloons  travel  at  a  height  of  from 
6,000  to  8,000  feet. 

“Paper  balloons  capable  of  lifting  four  pounds  also  are  used 
by  the  American  army  for  the  purpose  of  distributing  literature 


Resume 


179 


in  trenches  and  enemy  billets  for  distances  up  to  100  miles  from 
the  starting  point.  These  balloons  drop  a  half  pound  of  material 
at  five-minute  intervals.  They  use  a  fuse  release,  consisting  of  a 
slow-burning  match,  which  is  consumed  at  the  rate  of  1  inch 
every  five  minutes.  The  first  release  is  effected  five  minutes 
after  starting  to  make  sure  of  compensating  the  balloon  for  the 
loss  of  gas. 

“The  latest  devices  are  planned  to  employ  clockwork  for  their 
releasing  mechanism,  and  the  use  of  trench  mortars,  with  a  card¬ 
board  projectile  containing  literature,  is  being  considered  for  the 
future. 

‘‘Airplanes  are  used  occasionally  for  this  purpose,  but  there 
are  many  objections  to  their  employment.” 

It  has  been  found  necessary  in  this  war,  as  elsewhere,  to  meet 
the  enemy  with  his  own  weapons  and  better  them  if  possible — 
gas  with  gas,  fire  with  fire,  barrage  with  counter  barrage,  and 
propaganda  with  counter  propaganda. 

The  American  weapon  is  superior  here  because  it  is  loaded 
with  truth  instead  of  lies;  it  fights  for  freedom  and  not  for 
autocracy.  Therefore  the  Germans  have  issued  an  order  punish¬ 
ing  with  death  the  retention  by  their  soldiers  of  any  examples  of 
American  or  Allied  propaganda. 

The  old  saying,  “Inter  arma  silent  leges,”  applies  in  the  present 
war  peculiarly.  Among  the  most  precious  laws  of  our  country  are 
those  guaranteeing  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  but  if  the 
country  falls  before  an  enemy  that  has  long  denied  its  own  people 
freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  of  what  value  will  the  constitu¬ 
tional  privileges  be  when  the  Constitution  is  overthrown? 

Germany  has  selected  as  one  of  her  deadliest  weapons  the  great 
engine  of  propaganda.  It  can  only  be  defeated  by  the  defeat  of 
German  propagandists  and  all  their  conscious  or  unconscious  con¬ 
federates,  wherever  they  are  met,  at  home  or  abroad,  under  whatso¬ 
ever  disguises. 

After  the  war  is  over  it  will  be  easy  to  restore  the  comforts 
and  privileges  of  peace.  But  during  the  war,  while  millions  of 
our  people  are  facing  death  on  land  and  sea,  and  surrendering  their 
treasure,  their  liberty  and  their  precious  lives,  the  activity  of  those 
who  in  any  way  imperil  or  diminish  or  delay  our  success  is  and 
can  only  be  a  form  of  military  cooperation  with  our  enemy. 

German  propaganda,  like  German  secret  service,  was  organized 
and  has  been  conducted  with  a  forehandedness  and  magnitude  un¬ 
equalled  by  any  other  nation.  The  Espionage  Act  furnished  only 
a  partial  defense.  Indeed  the  Judges  seemed  hardly  to  realize  what 
a  weapon  propaganda  really  was,  and  how  dangerous.  Their  charges 
to  the  juries  rarely  mentioned  the  word. 


180 


Propaganda 


Propaganda  has  been  and  is  being  carried  on  with  an  ingenuity, 
energy,  and  ubiquity  inconceivable  to  one  who  does  not  receive 
daily  reports  of  the  endless  forms  it  takes  and  the  remote  centers 
in  which  it  breaks  out.  No  class  of  people  is  too  humble  to  reach, 
nor  any  community.  The  whole  woild  is  under  such  propagation, 
and  the  motives  and  achievements  of  the  United  States  are  belied 
in  every  respect. 

In  close  cooperation  with  the  agents  of  Germany,  and  Ameri¬ 
can  citizens  of  German  sympathy,  are  numerous  factions  cooperat¬ 
ing  with  them  more  or  less  unconsciously.  These  range  from  the 
peace-at-any-price  men  and  the  advocates  of  dubiously  sincere 
religious  doctrines  to  the  anti-social  socialists,  the  anarchists  and 
the  fanatics  who  would  rather  risk  their  liberty  altogether  than 
sacrifice  liberties  in  detail  to  the  discipline  necessary  to  this  crisis. 

A  few  American  authors  in  Europe  and  many  in  this  country 
do  their  utmost  to  discredit  America.  Publishers  of  books  mas¬ 
querade  propaganda  under  works  of  pretended  realism  which  omit 
all  the  realism  of  nobility  and  sacrifice,  and  present  only  the  dis¬ 
couraging  or  disgusting  phases  of  war.  Newspapers  mix  with  head¬ 
lines  of  blatant  jingoism  articles  tending  to  embroil  us  with  our 
Allies  or  to  convince  us  of  our  hopeless  inefficiency.  Pamphlets  and 
posters  and  stickers  denounce  the  war  as  a  capitalists’  struggle  for 
their  investments  and  proclaim  our  soldiers  slaves.  Rumor  mongers 
carry  on  “whispering  propaganda,”  torturing  the  people  at  home 
with  lies  about  disasters  to  our  soldiers  and  frightful  immoralities 
in  our  camps  and  among  the  Red  Cross  nurses.  Every  effort  is 
made  to  confuse  the  difference  between  individual  shortcomings 
and  a  general  breakdown  of  our  efforts. 

Ruthless  criticism  of  our  officials  is  spread  among  foreign' 
countries  to  destroy  our  prestige  abroad,  and  the  foreign  born  sol¬ 
diers  are  the  victims  of  tireless  schemes  to  create  dissension  and 
distrust.  The  negroes  are  fed  with  lies.  Liberty  Bond  and  War 
Savings  Stamps  sales  and  Red  Cross  subscriptions  are  hampered 
in  numberless  ways. 

The  Department  of  Justice  and  the  Postal  Department  are 
showing  an  indefatigable  enthusiasm  and  cooperation  with  the  other 
agencies  of  the  Government,  but  a  law  with  teeth  in  it  was  essential 
in  order  that  German  and  American  incendiaries  by  propaganda 
may  be  run  down  and  punished  before  their  fireworks  get  beyond 
control. 

dfiie  Disloyalty  Act  was  a  vital  necessity,  and  the  result  of  bitter 


Resume 


181 


experience.  It  arms  the  authorities  with  a  very  powerful  weapon. 
But  the  public  must  be  kept  alive  to  its  own  duty  to  recognize 
propaganda  and  combat  it  in  its  numberless  forms  from  idle  rumor 
to  ingenious  publication.  Jurors,  while  not  forgetting  their  sacred 
obligations  to  be  just,  must  realize  that  they  are  doing  wTar  service 
in  fighting  propaganda. 

Its  military  importance  could  not  be  more  vigorously  ex¬ 
pressed  than  in  the  appeal  for  cooperation  credited  to  General 
Pershing : 

“I  will  smash  the  German  line  in  France,  if  you  will  smash  the 
damnable  Hun  propaganda  at  home.” 


/ - s 

Illustrations  Showing  Examples 
of  Pictorial  Propaganda 

v _ > 


A  GRAPHIC  PRESENTATION  OF  THE  MILITARY  MEANING  OF 
PROPAGANDA  AND  ITS  SUPPRESSION. 

(From  a  cartoon  by  Orr,  in  the  Chicago  Tribune,  June  14,  1918.) 


1S2 


Ecclesiasticism’s  Seven  Plagues  247 

presented  to  them  as  truth — they  must  ‘try  -the  spirits/ 
whether  they  be  holy  or  evil,  of  God  or  of  the  Evil  One — 
the  Spirit  of  Truth  or  the  spirit  of  error.  These  both  are 
introduced  by  prophets,  or  teachers.” — E 320,  295. 

[Like]  AS  IT  'WERE  frogs. — Frogs  are  garrulous,  have  a 
very  wise  look,  large  mouths,  are  much  puffed  up  and 
utter  only  croakings.  In  the  “distress  of  nations  with  per¬ 
plexity”  which  has  come  upon  Christendom  as  a  result  of 
her  sins,  the  croakings  of  the  wise  now  fill  the  air  every- 
were.  Actually  all  knees  are  “weak  as  water.” — Ezek. 
7:17;  21:7.  See  especially  D  i-xvi. 

Come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon. — The  three  funda¬ 
mental  truths  of  history  are  man’s  Fall,  Redemption  and 
Restoration.  Stated  in  other  language  these  three  truths 
are  the  mortal  nature  of  man,  the  Christ  of  God  and  His 
Millennial  Kingdom.  Standing  opposite  to  these  Satan  has 
placed  three  great  untruths,  human  immortality,  the  Anti¬ 
christ  and  a  certain  delusion  which  is  best  described  by 
the  word  Patriotism,  but  which  is  in  reality  murder,  the 
spirit  of  the  very  Devil.  It  19  this  last  and  crowding  fea¬ 
ture  of  Satan’s  work  that  is  mentioned  first.  The  other 
two  errors  are  the  direct  cause  of  this  one.  The  wars 
of  the  Old  Testament  w*ere  all  intended  to  illustrate  the 
fcattlings  of  the  New  Creature  against  the  weaknesses  of 
the  flesh,  and  are  not  In  any  sense  of  the  wrord  justification 
for  the  human  butchery  which  has  turned  the  earth  into 
a  slaughter  house.  Nowhere  in  the  New  Testament  is 
Patriotism  (a  narrow-minded  hatred  of  other  peoples)  en¬ 
couraged.  Everywhere  and  always  murder  in  its  every 
form  is  forbidden;  and  yet,  under  the  guise  of  Patriotism 
the  civil  governments  of  earth  demand  of  peace-loving  men 
the  sacrifice  of  themselves  and  their  loved  ones  and  the 
butchery  of  their  fellows,  and  hail  it  as  a  duty  demanded 
by  the  laws  of  heaven. 

“Everybody  of  importance  in  the  early  years  of  the 
twentieth  century  was  an  ardent  champion  of  peace.  A 
crowd  of  royal  peacemakers  in  a  world  surcharged  with 
thoughts  and  threats  of  war,  a  band  of  lovers  strolling  down 
an  avenue  which  they  themselves  had  lined  with  lyddite 
Shells  and  twelve-inch '  guns.  Prince  Bulow,  Sir  Henry 
Campbell-Bannermann,  Mr.  H.  H.  Asquith,  Mr.  John  Hay, 
and  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  pacific  in  temper,  eloquent  in  their 
advocacy  of  the  cause  of  international  good  will,  were  a 
galaxy  of  peace-loving  statesmen  under  a  sky  black  with 
the  thunder-clouds  of  war.  English  and  German  papers 
were  discussing  invasions,  and  the  need  of  increased  arma¬ 
ments,  at  the  very  time  that  twenty  thousand  Germans  in. 
Berlin  were  applauding  to  the  echo  the  friendly  greetings 

A  PAGE  FROM  “THE  FINISHED  MYSTERY.” 

(Note  the  allusions  to  Patriotism.) 


183 


TRANSLATOR’S  PREFACE  ix 

has  Europe  discovered  that  it  was  a  Song  of  Death. 

But  has  she  discovered  it?  We  fear  the  truth  is 
only  just  beginning  to  dawn.  France  at  any  rate  does 
not  yet  perceive  that  she  is  being  bled  to  death 
for  the  sake  of  England,  who  employs  her  to-day 
against  Germany,  even  as  she  employed  Germany 
against  Louis  XIV  and  Napoleon  in  former  centu¬ 
ries.  France,  Belgium,  Russia,  Italy,  are  to-day 
England’s  instruments.  By  means  of  them  does  she 
hope  to  destroy  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary; 
but  she  also  hopes  that  by  destroying  these,  they 
will  have  eo  ipso  destroyed  themselves.  The  whole 
of  Europe  will  thus  be  drained  to  the  last  drop  of 
blood,  exhausted,  ruined;  and  on  those  ruins  will 
England’s  trade  flourish  anew.  The  harvest  reaped 
as  the  result  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  will  be  reaped 
again. 

Such  was  England’s  calculation.  It  was  a  mis¬ 
taken  one.  For  the  first  time  in  her  history  since  the 
Elizabethan  period,  England  has  miscalculated  her 
chances.  Grievously  miscalculated  them !  Ger¬ 
many  has  to-day  assumed  the  glorious  task  of  lib¬ 
erating  the  world  from  the  clutches  of  the  British 
parasite.  She  it  is  who  continues  the  great  mission 
of  Napoleon,  who  takes  up  the  sword  dropped  by 
him,  and  which  France,  unfortunately,  is  to-day  un¬ 
willing  to  wield.  In  this  great  war  everyone  must 
take  his  part  —  for  it  is  a  struggle  between  light  and 
darkness,  between  truth  and  lies,  between  manly  vigor 
and  parasitical  cowardice,  between  civilisation  and 

“THE  VAMPIRE  OF  THE  CONTINENT.” 

(A  page  from  the  preface  to  the  American  edition.) 


184 


VARGAS  VILA 


Ante  los  Barbaros 


(LOS  ESTADOS  UNIDOS  Y  LA  GUERRA) 


“AGAINST  THE  BARBARIANS,  THE  YANKEE— THERE’S  THE 

ENEMY!” 


(The  cover  of  an  anti-American  book  published  in  Barcelona.) 


185 


Un  accidente  irtesperado. 
(an  unforeseen  accident) 


—£!  tantes  cosas,  con  cue  so  hacan? 
-Con  air*. 

(and  SO  MAN  V  THINGS,  -  IV/  TH  INHA  T 
ARE  THEY  -PRODUCED?  WITH  AIR,) 


PRO-GERMAN  SPANISH  POST  CARDS  SHOWING  THE  DEFECTION 
OF  RUSSIA  AND  AMERICA’S  EMPTY  BOASTS 


God  Country 

SPANISH  CERMANOPHILE  PROPAGANDA 
From  Campana  de  Gracia  (Barcelona) 


THE  KAISER  AS  GOD,  KING  AND  COUNTRY 
(A  Spanish  Pro- Ally  View  of  Spanish  Pro-German  Propaganda^ 


186 


Los  defensores  de  los  debiles 


Su  primera  gran  victoria. 

“THE  DEFENDERS  OF  THE  WEAK.  THEIR  FIRST  GREAT 

VICTORY.” 

(A  page  from  a  pro-German  comic  paper  published  in  Spanish.  The 

prostrate  figure  represents  Greece.) 

187 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  “FREE 

AN  AMERICAN  MINISTER  TO  AMERICANS 

Address  by  John  Haynes  Holmes,  Pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  Park  Aue.,  and  34th  St.,  New  York  City. 


On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  March  7, 
1915,  l-declared  in  Ibis  church  my  ab¬ 
solute  and  unalterable  opposition  to  war. 
“War,”  I  said,  “is  never  justifiable  at  any 
time  or  under  any  circumstances.  No 
man  is  wise  enough,  no  nation  is  im¬ 
portant  enough,  no  human  interest  is 
precious  enough,  to  justify  the  whole¬ 
sale  destruction  and  murder  which  con¬ 
stitute  the  essence  of  war  .  War  as 
hate,  and  hate  has  no  place  within  the 
human  heart  War  is  death  and  death  has  no 
place  within  the  realm  of  life.  War  is  hell, 
and  hell  has  no  more  place  in  the  human 
order  than  in  the  divine.”  I  then  asked 
what  “this  means  in  practical  terms  of 
to-day?"  And  I  answered,  “It  means 
not  only  that,  war  is  unjustifiable  in 
general,  but  that  this  English  war  is  un¬ 
justifiable  for  Englishmen,  and  this  Oer- 
man  war  is  unjustifiable  for  Oermans. 
It  means  that  this  war  which  may  in  the 
folly  of  men,  come  to  America  to-mor¬ 
row,  is  unjustifiable  for  Americans.” 

-5  • 

9 

These  words  spoken  in  this  place  more 
than  two  years  ago,  I  must  reaffirm  this 
day.  Nothing  has  happened  in  this  period 
of  time  to  change  my  opinion  of  war. 
On  the  contrary,  much  has  happened  to 
strengthen  and  confirm  it.  I  do  not  deny 
that  war,  like  polygamy,  slavery  and  can¬ 
nibalism,  was  inseparable  from  early  and 
low  stages  of  social  life.  I  do  not  deny 
that  war,  like  pestilence,  famine  and  con¬ 
flagration,  has  often  helped  forward  the 
civilization  of  mankind,  for  thus  does 
God  make  the  wrath,  as  well  as  the 
agony  of  men,  to  praise  him.  I  do  not 
even  deny  that  there  have  been  times  in 
the  past  when  war,  like  the  storms  of 
the  sea,  has  seemed  to  be  unavoidable. 
What  I  do  deny  is  that  these  facts  of 
history  touch  in  any  remotest  way  the 
judgment  of  ethics  and  religion  that  war 
is  wrong,  or  should  swerve  by  so  much 
as  a  hair’s  breadth  the  decision  of  any 
one  of  us  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
t.  War  is  in  open  and  utter  violation 
of  Christianity.  If  war  is  right,  then 


Christianity  is  wrong,  false,  a  lie.  If 
Christianity  is  right,  then  war  is  wrong, 
false,  a  lie. 

• 

To  criticise  adversely  a  war  in  which 
once's  native  land  is  about  to  engage, 
or  has  already  entered,  is  unusual,  but 
fortunately  not  unknown.  On  February 
4,  1847,  amid  the  fever  of  public  enthus¬ 
iasm  following  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  War,  Theodore  Parker,  addres¬ 
sing  a  great  anti-war  meeting  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  Boston,  said: 

“This  war  had  a  acta  and  Infamous  begin¬ 
ning,  and  ia  being  waged  for  a  mean  and 
irfamona  pnrpow  ...  .1  know  bit  one  war  ao 
bad  in  modem  time*,  and  ihat  wat  the  war 
for  the  partition  of  Poland.” 

Four  months  later,  in  a  sermon  preach¬ 
ed  in  the  Boston  Music  Hall,  at  a 
time  when  hundreds  of  American  soldiers 
had  been  killed  in  battle,  and  other 
hundreds  were  still  pouring  out  their 
life-blood  on  Mexican  soil,  THeodore 
Parker  again  said: 

“We  are  wtgtag  a  most  iniquitous  war.... 
We  nraat  refuse  to  take  any  part  in  it  and 
an  courage  other*  to  do  the  same.... and  aid 
them,  if  need  be,  who  aolfer  became  they  re¬ 
fine." 

•  v 

9 

The  Mexican  war  of  1847  may  have 
been  very  different  from  the  Oerman  War 
of  1917,  but  the  spirit  of  free  utterance 
here  manifested  by  our  greatest  Unitarian 
preacher,  is  the  same  in  every  age.  It 
was  in  accordance  with  this  spirit  that 
I  stated  in  this  place  on  Sunday,  February 
4,  last,  the  day  following  the  dismissal 
of  Ambassador  Bernstorff,  that  “nothing 
can  conceivably  be  imagined  which  can 
jnstify  war  between  America  and  Ger¬ 
many;”  and  it  is  in  accordance  with  this 
same  spirit,  that  I  now  reaffirm  this  judg¬ 
ment  I  have  no  desire  to  substantiate 
it,  since  the  argument  raises  dubious 
questions  and  would  inevitably  involve 
regrettable  antagonisms.  On  the  other, 
hand,  however,  you  are  entitled  to  know 
my  processes  of  thought  and  the  reasons 
for  my  conclusion.  May  I  say,  there¬ 
fore,  that  the  impending  war  at  this  mo¬ 


ment  seems  to  me  to  be  wrong,  since 
it  has  its  origin  in  motives  only  less 
ignoble  than  those  which  drove  us  into 
conflict  with  Mexico  just  seventy  years 
ago7 

• 

If  you  tell  me  that  this  war  is  fought 
for  the  integrity  of  international  law,  I 
must  ask  you  why  it  is  directed  only 
against  Germany  and  not  also  against 
England,  which  is  an  equal  although  far 
less  terrible  violator  of  covenants  be¬ 
tween  nations? 

If  you  say  that  it— is  fought  on  behalf 
of  the  rights  of  neutrals,  I  must  ask  you 
where,  when  and  by  which  belligerent  the 
rights  of  neutrals  have  been  conserved  in 
this  war,  and  what  guarantee  you  can 
offer  that,  after  aH  our  expenditure  of 
blood  and  money  for  their  defence,  these 
rights  will  not  be  -similarly  violated  all 
over  again  in  the  next  war  by  any 
nation  which Js  battling  for  its  life? 

If  you  say  that  it  is  fought  for  the 
security  of  American  property  and  lives, 
I  most  ask  yon  bow  and  to  what  extent 
it  will  be  safer  for  our  citizens  to  cross 
the  seas  after  the  declaration  of  War  than 
it  was  before? 

If  you  say  jhat  it  is  fought  in  vindica¬ 
tion  of  our  national  honor,  I  must  ask 
you  why  no  harm  has  come  to  the  honor 
of  other  nations  snch  as  Holland  and  Scan¬ 
dinavia,  for  example,  which  have  suffer¬ 
ed  even  more  than  we,  but,  for  pruden¬ 
tial  reasons,  refuse  to  take  up  arms? 

If  you  say  ihat  this  is  a  war  of  defense 
against  wanton  and  intolerable  aggres¬ 
sion,  I  must  reply  that  every  blow  which 
we  have  endured  has  been  primarily  a 
blow  directed  not  against  ourselves  but 
against  England,  and  that  it  has  yet  to 
be  proved  that  Germany  has  any  inten¬ 
tion  or  desire  of  attacking  ns. 

If  you  say  that  tins  war  is  a  life-and- 
death  struggle  for  the  preservation  of 
civilization  against  barbarism,  I  must  ask 
you  why  we  remained  neutral  when 
Belgium  was  raped,  and  were  at  last 
aroused  to  action  not  by  the  cries  of 


the  stricken  abroad,  but  by  our  own 
losses  in  men  and  money? 

if  you  say  that  this  war  is  a  last 
resort  in  a  situation  which  every  other 
method,  patiently  tried,  has  failed  to  meet, 
I  must  answer  that  this  is  not  true — that 
other  ways  and  means  of  action,  tried 
by  experience  and  justified  by  success, 
have  been  laid  before  the  administration 
and  wilfully  rejected. 

r  * 

• 

in  its  ultimate  causes,  this  war  is  the 
natural  product  and  expression  of  our 
unchristian  civilization.  Its  armed  men 
are  ^own  from  the  dragon's  teeth  of 
secret  diplomacy,  imperialistic  ambitions, 
dynastic  pride,  greedy  commercialism, 
economic  exploitation  at  home  and 
abroad.  In  the  sowing  of  these  teeth, 
America  ha*  ...d  her  part;  and  it  is 
therefore  only  proper,  perhaps,  that  she 
should  have  her  part  also  in  the  reaping 
of  the  dreadful  b^vest.  In  its  more  im¬ 
mediate  causes,  this  war  is  the  direct 
result  of  unwarrantable,  cruel,  but  none 
the  1  'ss  inevitable  interferences  with  our 
com  ercial  relations  •  with  one  group 
of  Le  belligerents.  Our  participation  in 
the  war,  therefore,  like  the  war  itself,  is 
political  and  economic,  not  ethical,  in  its 
character.  Any  honor,  dignity,  or  beauty 
which  there  may  be  in  our  impending 
action,  is  to  be  found  in  the  impulses, 
pure  and  undefiled,  which  are  actuating 
many  patriotic  hearts  to-day,  and  not  at 
all  in  the  real  facts  of  the  situation. 

The  war  itself  is  wrong.  Its  prosecution 
will  be  a  crime.  There  is  not  a  question 
raised,  an  issue  involved,  a  cause  at 
stake,  which  is  worth  the  life  of  one 
blue-jacket  on  the  sea  or  one  khaki-coat 
in  the  trenches.  1  question  the  sincerity 
of  no  man  who  supports  this  war— I 
salute  the  devotion  of  every  man  who 
proposes  to  sustain  it  with  his  money 
or  h:,s  blood.  But  I  say  to  you  that 
when,..ydars  hence,  the  whole  of  this 
story  has  been  told  it  will  be  found 
that  we  have  been  tragically  deceived, 
and  all  our  sacrifices  been  made  in  vain. 


Statements  of  this  kind,  made  on  the 
eve  of  war,  seem  to  many  persons  to 
be  treasonable.  The  charge  of  "traitor” 
has  been  flung  against  me,  and  will  be 
flung  again.  To  such  a  charge,  I  might 
be  content  to  answer  in  the  words  of 
Patrick  Henry,  who,  when  similarly  ac¬ 
cused,  cried  outl  “If  this  be  treason, 
make  the  most  of  it.” 

Wiser  and  kindlier  was  the  reply  of 
Theodore  Parker  who,  when  denounced 
as  a  traitor  because  of  his  steadfast  op¬ 
position  to  the  Mexican  War,  said: 

”1  think  lightly  of  what  is  called  treason 
against  a  government.  That  may  be  yonr  dvty 

to-day,  or  mine . Bnt  treason  against  the 

people,  against  mankind,  against  Ood,  Is  a 
great  sin  not  lightly  to  be  spoken  of." 

■a  * 

m 

This  is  my  service  for  the  days  of 
war— the  ministry  of  reconcilation,  the 
defence  of  democracy,  the  preparation 
of  the  gospel  of  peace,  the  quest  of 
brotherhood.  It  is  the  deliberate  espousal 
of  that  higher  spiritual  loyalty  whfch  is 
not  so  much  the  destruction  as  it  is  the 
fulfilment  of  those  lower  and  more 
carnal  loyalties  which  stir  the  envy  and 
the  hate  of  men. 

Such  is  my  hope  !  I  pray  that  it  is 
well-founded  If  not,  I  shall  want  to 
know.  You  have  but  to  speak,  and  I 
will  surrender  my  post  to  one  who  can 
safer  guard  it,  and  obediently  though 
sadly  go  my  way  The  world  is  wide — 
so  long  as  I  have  my  soul  to  comrade, 

I  shall  not  be  lonely— and  if  L  go  down 
at  last  in  failure  and  defeat,  I  shall  find 
comfort  in  the  thought  that  other  and 
far  better  men  than  I  have  walked  that 
road  and  met  that  end,  but  none  of 
them  all  for  a  better  or  a  grander  cause 
For  America,  for  humanity,  for  Ood,  I 
shall  have  lived  and  died.  Than  this 
no  man  can  ask  a  happier  fate. 

“They  out-talked  thee,  bfised  thee,  tore  thee  ? 
Better  men  fared  tbn*  before  thee; 

Fired  their  ringing  shot  and  passed. 

Hotly  charged— and  sank  at  latt. 

“Charge  once  more,  then,  and  be  da  mb S 
Let  the  victor*,  when  they 
When  the  forts  of  folly  tall. 

Find  thy  body  by  the  wall  I" 


Exact  reproduction  of  this  sermon  as  sent  in 


AN  AMERICAN  SERMON  USED  AS  GERMAN  PROPAGANDA, 
enormous  numbers  by  balloon  into  the  lines  of  the  British  Fifth  Army  just  before  the  spring  offensive. 

A 


(Obverse) 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  "FREE" 


How  Morganism  has  driven  Wilson  and -America  to  the  Betrayal  of  Humanity. 

This  cartoon  was  on  the  reverse  of  the  American  sermon  sent  into  the  lines  of  the  British  Fifth  Army. 


B 


C 


Final  Check  for  Purchase  of  The  Mail,  Paid  to  Rumely  Through  Lyon. 


H.  F.  AI.BKKT  • 

MWOADWAV 
VKW  VOWK 

Sew  York.  May  27th,  1915. 


Equitable  Trust  Company 

New  York  City. 

Dear  Sirs 

Please  issue  your  Cashier's  check  for 


?  350, 000. - 


( threehundredfiftythousand  dollars) 


I 


i 


i 

i 

! 


in  favor  of  kr.  Walter  Lyor  and  charge  the  amount  to  the 
aocount  of  J.  Bernstorff  on  .  myself. 


Yours  very  truly 


|  Dr.  Albert's  Letter  Asking  for  Cashier’s  Check  for  Part  of  The  Mail 

Purchase  Money. 


FACSIMILES  OF  CHEQUES  USED  IN  THE  PURCHASE  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  EVENING  MAIL. 


12 


February,  1917 


13 


1  American  Ships 
seized 


a  AMERICAN  SHIPS 
BOARDED  ~ 


-mk 


‘London  Punch,” 

London,  England. 

Sir: — Perhaps  it  may  please  you  to  know  just  what  our  edi¬ 
torial  writers  think  of  His  Majesty’s  government-  We  quote  from 
an  editorial  from  the  New  York  “Sun,”  of  January  16,  1917: 

“Mr.  Lloyd  George  is  confident  of  victory,  but  if  he  should 
be  mistaken  about  the  issue  of  the  war  the  worst  that  could  befall 
the  Entente  Allies  is  a  draw;  and  that  would  leave  the  British 
Empire  in  the  strongest  position  in  Europe  and  in  the  whole  world. 
She  would  retain  her  great  navy  With  its  invincible  line  of  battle¬ 
ships,  strengthened  by  new  construction;  and  she  would  have  a 
veteran  army  of  at  least  3,000,000  effectives;  also  a  merchant 
marine  of  very  superior  tonnage,  in  spite  of  losses  by  submarine 
warfare,  for  her  shipyards  have  not  been  idle.  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
is  right:  no  nation  would  dare  to  touch  England  after  the  war,  or 
even  to  threaten  her;  certainly  not  to  impose  upon  her  good  nature 
or  to  assume  that  from  love  of  peace  and  regard  for  arbitration  as 


a  principle  she  would  graciously  forfeit  her  rights.  Can  it  be 
doubted  that  if  the  war  ends  without  a  military  triumph  by  Ger¬ 
many,  which  now  seems  out  of  the  question,  Great  Britain,  with 
control  of  the  sea,  will  be  the  first  of  military  powers? 

But  that  is  not  all.  Industrially  Great  Britain  will  be  more 
formidable  than  ever,  and  needing  the  money  that  the  lion’s  share 
of  the  world’s  trade  would  bring  her,  no  opportunity  to  control 
and  capture  markets  will  be  missed.  After  the  war  of  1870-71 
France  in  a  comparatively  few  years  liquidated  the  huge  indemnity 
exacted  from  her  by  Germany.  It  will  be  Great  Britain  s  aim  to 
scale  down  her  enormous  war  debt,  and  a  like  success  will  probably 
attend  her  enterprise.” 

As  an  humble  citizen  whose  trade  rights  have  been  violated, 
and  whose  business  has  been  ruined,  I  thought  it  might  be  interest¬ 
ing  for  you  to  know  how  indignantly  our  newspapers  feel  about 

your  aggressions.  “BULL  ” 


10  American  Psotesxj 
IGNORED 


9  American  Firm: 
Blacklisted 


3  AMERICAN  CITIZEN*  |  [4  JAAIL  SEIZED 

IMPRISONED  1  1 


1 J- - 

Tr  '  T 

j 

m 

9! 

m 

5  AMERICAN  GOODS  CONFISCATED  6  AMERICAN*  PREVENTED  from.  Buying  Ships  7  EMBARGO  ddaimt  AMERICAN  GOOD*  8 


A  DOUBLE  PAGE  FROM  “BULL”  (FEBRUARY,  1917)  EDITED  BY  JEREMIAH  O’LEARY. 
This  copy  wa*  taken  from  a  German  prisoner  in  the  war  barracks  at  Fort  Douglas,  Utah. 

n 


1 


•  i 


o 


•  -  n 


- 


» 


>» 


I 


StPaul  Enterprise 


ST.  PAUL,  RAMSEY  COUNTY,  MINNESOTA 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  19.  1918. 


Engagement  of  Bride 

To  Be  Consummated 

Bridegroom  and  Bride  to  be  gei'eated  in 
Glory.  Then  “ Times  of  Refreshing  Shall 
Come."  What  This  Implies  to  the  World. 


(From  New  York  American.) 
Boston.  Mass.,  May  28.  1911. 

PASTOR  RUSSELL  preached  twice 
h"’*  today.  He  had  large  and 
’  intellectual  audiences  as  usual. 
\Vq  report  one  of  his  discourses  from 
the  text,  “I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you;  *  *  *  and  I  will  come 
again  and  receive  you  unto  myself, 
that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be 
also”  (John  14.2,  3).  The  speaker 


$1.50  a  Year 
Single  Copies  5  Cent* 


Natural  Resources 


Doubtless  we  all  have  in  mind  the 
fact  that  we  have  just  passed  the 
anniversary  of  our  Redeemer’s  ascen¬ 
sion  to  the_  right  hand  of  the  Father 
— to  the  highest  place  in  all  the 
Universe,  next  to -.the  Almighty  Fa¬ 
ther.  He  ascended  up  where  He  was 
before — to  the  spirit  plane  of  being, 
with  added  excellence  of  glory  and 
honor,  the  reward  of  His  faithful¬ 
ness  and  obedience  to  the  Father’s 
will,  even  to  the  sacrificing  of  His 
life  at  Calvary.  He  ascended,  the 
Scriptures  declare,  from  the  more 
humble  condition  of.  human  nature. .a 
little  lower  than  the  angels,  to  the 
exalted  condition  of  the  divine  na¬ 
ture — far  above  angels,  principalities 
and  powers  and  every  name  that  is 
named. 

The  work  for  which  the  Logos  left 
the  heavenly  glory  has  not  yet  been 
accomplished.  He  has  suffered,  the 
Just  for  the  unjust,  giving  His  life 
a  Ran-;  r'-price  for  all;  but  this  was 
merely  a  means  toward  an  end,  and 
that  end  .  not  yet  been  accom 
)...-hed—  '  e  blessing  of  Adam  and 
his  fallen  race.  Thank  God.  however, 
that  the  great,  broad  foundation  has 
been  laid.  Thanks  be  to  God,  also, 
that  a  great  preliminary  work  has 
been  in  progress  during  more  than 
18  centuries  since  His  ascension.  That 
preliminary  work  is  the  preparation 
of  *the  Church  of  Christ  to  follow 
Him  in  faithfulness  and  self-sacrifice 
to  exaltation  with  Him  to  the  divine 
nature,  glory,,  honor  and  immortal¬ 
ity,  which  was  His  reward. — 2  Peter 
1:4. 

A  Chaste  Virgin  Espoused. 

If,  in  times  past,  we  have  too  care¬ 
lessly  studied  our  Bibles  and  con¬ 
fused  God’s  special  blessing  for  the 
Church  as  the  Bride  of  Christ,  with 
His  subsequent  blessing  for  the 
world  through  Messiah  ond  His  Bride, 
let  us  do  so  no  longer.  Let  us  note 
that  as  the  Divine  Plan  for  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  the  world  could  not  begin 
before  the  coming  of  Jesus,  except 
in  a  typical  sense,  neither  can  it  be¬ 
gin  to  operate  until  the  complete 
selection  of  the  Church  —  until  her 
perfecting  as  the  "Bride,  the  Lamb’s 
Wife,”  in  the  First  or  Chief  Resur¬ 
rection. 

The  antitypical  sacrifices  which 
Jesus  began  still  continue  to  be  of¬ 
fered  by  Him.  Those  desirous  of  be¬ 
coming  His  Bride  and  joint-heirs  with 
Him  in  His  Kingdom  are  now  quali¬ 
fying  for  that  exaltation.  The  in¬ 
vitation  to  them  is  that,  renouncing 
sin  and  accepting  the  Savior,  they 
‘shall  "present  their  bodies  living  sac¬ 
rifices,  holy  and  acceptable  to  God" — 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  their 
Redeemer. 

In  a  certain  sense  this  presentation 
of  the  entire  Church  took  place,  rep¬ 
resentatively,  in  the  Apostles  and 
others  of  the  five  hundred  brethren 
who  believed  at  the  first.  They  were 
representatives  of  the  entire  Church, 
and  the  acceptance  of  their  sacrifice 
and  their  begetting  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  their  espousal  at  Pentecost, 
represented  the  acceptance,  the  be¬ 
getting  and  espousal  of  the  entire 
Church  from  then  until  now.  We 
are  merely  following  in  their  steps; 
we  are  merely  under-members  in  the 
name  Body — "The  Church  of  the  first¬ 
borns,  whose  names  are  written  in 
heaven." — Hebrews  12:23. 

St.  Paul  distinctly  points  out  that 
the  Church  is  not  yet  the  Bride  of 
Christ,  but  .merely  espoused.  He 
writes,  "I  have  espoused  you  as  a 
chaste  virgin  unto  one  Husband,  who 
is  Christ  ”  The  period  of  espousal 
will  not  be  complete  until  the  close 
of  this  Age,  when  the  last  member 
of  the  Body  shall  have  been  accepted, 
and  when  the  First  or  Chief  Resur¬ 
rection  (to  the  spirit  plane)  shall 
have  been  accomplished— the  mar¬ 
riage  or  complete  union  between 


Christ  and  His  Bride  in  the  heavenly 
glory 

The  Way  and  the  Piece. 

As  the  Redeemer  was  the  first  to 
ascend  to  the  glorious  station  o L  the 
divine  nature,  far  above  angels,  prin¬ 
cipalities  and  powers,  and  as  the 
Church  is  to  be  His  associate  in  that 
glory,  it  was  necessary  that  Ho 
should  precede  her  to  prepare  the 
way.  Our  Lord's  own  worthiness  of 
exaltation  to  the  divine  nature  was 
witnessed  by  the  Father  in  that  He 
raised  Hun  from  the  dead  a  quicken¬ 
ing  Spirit,  to  glory,  honor  and  im¬ 
mortality. 

But  before  the  Church  could,  in. 
any  sense  of  the  word,  be  made  ac¬ 
ceptable  in  the  heavenly  courts,  it 
was  necessary  that  the  Redeemer 
should  "appear  in  the  presence  of 
God  for  us”  (Heb.  9:24).  Tt  was 
necessary  that  He  make  application 
or  imputation  of  the  mprit  of  His 
sacrifice  on  behalf  of  the  Church  be¬ 
fore  their  sacrifices  could  be  "holy 
and  acceptable  unto  God;”  and  only 
by  their  sacrifices  and  the  Divine  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  them  could  they  be  be¬ 
gotten  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  new 
nature,  the  divine  nature,  which  they 
|  will  fully  receive,  if  faithful,  in  the 
•  chief  resurrection. 

What  force  we  thus  see  is  attached 
to  the  Master’s  words.  "I  go  to  pre 
pare  a  place  for  you.”  Unless  He 
had  thus  prepared  the  way,  unless 
He  had  become  our  Surety,  we  never 
could  have  become  acceptable  in  the 
Father’s  sight,  and  the  Redeemer’s 
associates  on  the  spirit  plane.  But 
there  is  still  another  sense  in  which 
the  Redeemer  is  preparing  for  His 
Church,  His  followers.  He  has, 
their  great  High  Priest,  not.  only 
opened  up  the  way  to  God,  but  He 
continues  to  be  their  Intercessor  and 
to  appropriate  to  therm  of  His  merit 
to  cover  their  continual  trespasses 
and  shortcomings,  which  are  the  re 
suit,  not  of  wilfulness  but  of  weak¬ 
ness  and  heredity  —  shortcomings 
against  which  they  strive,  but  by 
which  at  times  they  are  overtaken — 
sins  of  omission  if  not  of  commission, 
How  precious  to  every  child  of  God 
are  the  words  of  the  Apostle,-  "If  we 
sin  we  have  an  Advocate  with  the 
Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  Righteous! 
Let  us,  therefore,  come  with  courage 
to  the  Throne  of  heavenly  grace  that 
we  may  obtain  mercy  and  find  grace 
to  help  in  every  time  of  need,  for  we 
have  an  High  Priest  who  can  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  in¬ 
firmities.  having  been  tempted  in  all 
points  like  as  we  of  the  new  erea 
tion  are  tempted.  (1  John  2:1,  2 
Hebrews  4:15,  16.) 

"I  Will  Come  Again.” 

There  appears  to  be  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  many  to  deny  that 
there  wHl  be  a  second  advent  of  the 
Redeemer.  They  reason  that  what 
has  not  occurred  in  more  than  18 
centuries  should  cease  to  be  expected. 
They  endeavor  to  find  the  fulfilment, 
the  promised  second  coming  of  the 
Savior,  •  in  the  Pentecostal  blessing. 
But  this  cannot  satisfy  those  who 
have  implicit  trust  in  the  Lord,  and 
who  believe  that  the  Apostles  were 
his  specially  appointed  mouthpieces, 
for  did  not  the  Apostles,  long  after 
Pentecost,  tell  of  the  second  coming 
of  the  Lord,  and  did  not  Jesus  Him¬ 
self  in  the  last  book  of  the  Bible  de 
clare  His  coming  and  His  marriage 
to  the  Church,  His  acceptance  of  her 
and  the  giving  to  her  a  share  in 
His  glory? 

The  erroneous  thought  that  Jesus 
is  still  a  man  and  that  His  second 
coming  will  be  os  a  man  in  glory  and 
power,  has  done  much  injury  to  the 
Church.  It  has  turned  tbe  attention 
of  some  to  looking  for  and  expecting 
Messiah’s  Empire  to  be  purely  an 
earthly  one.  It  has  led  others  to 
deny  the  Bccond  coming  and  tbe 
Kingdom  entirely.  The  proper  view 
of  our  Lord's  ascension  to  the  glory 
of  the  divine  nature  and  honor  next 
to  the  Father,  never  more  to  return 
to  earthly  conditions,  lifts  us  above 
the  difficulties  mentioned. 

We  now  see  that  the  One  who  will 
come  in  power  and  great  glory  will 
be  a  Spirit  Being  wholly  invisible  to 
mankind,  but  nevertheless  the  very 
same  Jesus,  the  same  personality,  tbe 
same  Ego  who  was  once  amongst 
men;  the  same  Ego  or  personality 
who  previously  was  with  the  Father 
on  the  spirit  plane,  and  who  humbled 
Himself  to  man’s  estate  in  order 
that  H«*  might  accomplish  a  work  of 
redemption  for  Adam  and  his  race. 
The  Redeemer  says  of  Himself,  "I  am 
He  who  was  dead,  and  behold  I  am 
alive  forevermore. ”  And  He  who  wa9 
dead,  was  He  not  the  same  One  who 
previously  was  rich  and  for  our  sakes 
became  poor?  Can  we  not,  there¬ 
fore,  hold  clearly  to  the  distinction; 
of  nature,  and  yet  see  through  the 
two  changes  the  maintenance  of  the 
original  personality? 

He  Will  Come  in  Like  Manner. 

The  angels  who  appeared  to  the 
Apostles  when  the  Master  vanished 
from  their  sight  declared  that  He 
would  come  in  like  manner  as  He 
went  away.  Did  He  go  in  a  blaze  of 
glory  witnessed  by  the  whole  world 
of  mankind?  No!  Neither  will  He 
•e  come.  Did  He  go  amid  groat  con- 


3 


Outrageous  Treatment  of 
Conscientious  Objectors 

The  Brutishness  of  War,  and  What  It 
Leads  to  Demonstrate  the  “Kingdoms  of 
This  World "  Are  Satanic. 


The  “Ruling”  Bodies  and  the  ‘Ruled”  as  Maple  Trees 
Are  Giving  Up  The;r  Vitality, --‘--Sap, **‘and  Your 
“Uncle”  Puts  It  In  tie  Melting  Pot. 


vulsions  and  the  blast  of  trumpets? 
No!  Neither  will  He  so  come.  Was 
His  departure  seen  and  known 
throughout  the  world?  No!  Neither 
will  his  arrival  be  seen  and  known; 

He  declared,  He  will  come  as  a 
thief  in  the  night  and  will  be  pres¬ 
ent,  unknown  to  the  world.  Only  a 
few  knew  of  His  departure  and  could 
tell  it  to  others.  In  like  manner  a 
second  coming  will  be  known  only  to 
the  few,  who  will  declare  it  to  such 
as  have  the  hearing  ear. 

Concerning  this  secrCT '  arrival  ef 
the  Lord,  “as  a  thief  in  the  night," 
the  Apostle  declares,  "Ye,  brethren, 
are  not  in  darkness,  that  that  day 
should  overtake  you  as  a  thief"  (1 
Thessalonian3  5:4). 

The  day  of  revealment  will  come, 
but  it  will  be  after  the  Bride  class, 
the  elect  Church,  is  with  the  Bride¬ 
groom,  a  sharer  of  His  glory,  honor 
and  immortality.  "When  He  shall  ap¬ 
pear,  ye  also  shall  appear  with  Him 
n- glory"  (1  John  3:2).  The  reveal¬ 
ment  will  be  in  flaming  fire — a  mani¬ 
festation  of  righteousness,  opposition 
to  all  things  sinful  and  approval  of 
all  things  in  harmony  with  the  Gold¬ 
en  Rule  This  will  mean  at  first  a 
great  time  of  trouble,  an  overturn¬ 
ing  and  transformation  in  the  world’s 
affairs.  As  the  Prophet  declares. 
The  rich  men  shall  weep  bitterly.” 
Many  poor  ones  doubtless  will  also 
weep,  for  unrighteousness  is  not  con¬ 
fined  to  race  or  class.  All  evil-doers 
will  suffer,  all  well-doers  will  be 
blessed. 

As  soon  as  this  new  ruling  of  Mes¬ 
siah’s  Kingdom  shall  come  to  be 
thoroughly  recognized  and  appreci¬ 
ated,  “the  inhabitants  of  the  world 
will  learn  righteousness"  (Isaiah  26: 
9).  Then  the  great  blessing  of  Em¬ 
manuel’s  government  will  kiss  away 
the  world’s  sorrow  and  tears  and 
death,  as  a  great  Sum  of  Righteous¬ 
ness  arising.  Messiah’s  Kingdom  will 
flood  the  earth  with  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  goodness  of  God 
and  with  His  blessing,  “which  maketh 
rich  and  addeth  no  sorrow  there¬ 
with.”  Ignorance,  superstition,  siu 
and  death  will  flee  away  before  the 
light  of  that  New  Dispensation,  and 
only  those  who  resist  it  wilfully  will 
be  smitten  with  the  Second  Death. 

Rule  With  a  Rod  of  Iron. 

The  great  Heavenly  King  and  His 
Bride  will  rule  man’s  affairs  with  a 
rod  of  iron,  which  will  •  break  in 
pieces  and  destroy  institutions  con¬ 
trary  to  the  Golden  Rule.  Thia  pow¬ 
er  over  the  nations  belongs  to  the 
Redeemer  and  will  be  shared,  as 
promised,  with  His  Church.  But  first, 
before  that  (manifestation  of  the 
Kingdom  in  power  and  glory  and  with 
flaming  fire,  will  come  the  Master’s 
parousia,  or  secret  presence,  unknown 
to  the  world  —  known  only  to  the 
"watchers”  —  to  the  9aints,  through 
their  understanding  of  the  Divine 
prophesies,  to  which  their  eyes  of 
understanding  will  be  opened. 

In  the  harvest  time  He  will  be 
present  to  gather  the  wheat  into  His 
garner,  through  the  change  of  the 
Chief  Resurrection,  which  will  take 
place  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  because  “flesh  and  blood 
cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God.” 
During  this  period ‘of  parousia,  pre¬ 
ceding  the  outward  manifestation  to 
the  world,  tho  Heavenly  Lord,  in¬ 
visible  to  men,  will  judge  amongst 
those  who  have  professed  to  be  His 
servants — determining  which  may  en¬ 
ter  into  the  Kingdom  and  share  its 
glories,  and  which  have  been  un¬ 
profitable  servants,  who  may  not 
share  with  Him  in  the  Kingdom 
glory,  because  they  have  failed  to 
share  with  Him  in  tbe  sacrifice  and 
ignominy  of  the  present  time. 

(Continued  on  Pm«  Two.)  - 


PASTOR’S  OUTfJNES 
ON  FRUIT  CROWING 

Watch  Tower  Articles  of  1905  for 
Berean  Study  on  Character 
Development 


ARE  ESPECIALLY  HELPFUL  NOW 

fl  ere  an  Study  on 
"EVIL- SPEAKING  AND  EVIL- 
SURMISING.. 


Z.  ’02.  188  (2nd  Col  )  to  189  (1st 
Col.  Par/ 2) 

“Thou  Shell  Not." 

The  Apostle  explains  that  the  com¬ 
mands  of  the  decalogue  were  merely 
attempts  to  bring  down  to  the  nat¬ 
ural  man’s  comprehension  the  real 
spirit  of  the  divine  law.  And  yet 
the  prohibitions  of  that  law,  "Thou 
shalt  not,"  in  respect  to  various 
things  that  would  be  injurious  to  the 
neighbor,  could  never  fully  express 
the  comprehensiveness  of  the  divine 
will.  The  prohibitions  of  the  deca¬ 
logue  were  proper  enough  for  the 
"house  of  servants,”  but  when  the 
"house  of  sons"  was  instituted  (Heb 
3:5,  6),  and  when  there  sons  were 
begotten  of  the  holy  spirit  so  that 
they  could  appreciate  the  law  of 
Love,  it  was  substituted,  as  higher 
every  way  and  more  comprehensive 
than  the  prohibition  of  the  decalogue. 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery; 
Thou  shalt  not  kill;  Thou  shalt  not 
steal;  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  wit¬ 
ness;  Thou  shalt  not  covet; — because 
all  these  things  would  be  contrary  to 
the  law  of  love  under  which  alone 
the  "new  creature"  is  placed. 

But  the  law  of  the  New  Crea¬ 
tion —  Love  —  is  so  much  more  com¬ 
prehensive  than  the  decalogue  which 
was  tbe  basis  of  the  Jewish  Covenant, 
that  as  the  Apostles  says,  if  there 
be  any  other  commandment,  any  oth¬ 
er  thing  that  should  be  prohibited, 
any  other  things  contrary  to  the  law 
of  God.  it  is  briefly  comprehended 
in  the  declaration.  "Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  The  law 
of  love  marks  as  transgressions  many 
things  which  - would  not  have  been 
violations  of  the  decalogue;  for  In¬ 
stance,  the  decalogue  commanded  the 
bouse  of  servants  not  to  bear  false 
witness  against  a  neighbor;  but  the 
law  of  love  indicates  to  the  bouse  of 
sons  that  they  should  “speak  evil  of 
no  man"  even  if  soch  witness  would 
not  be  false;  it  instructs  them  fur¬ 
ther.  that  even  if  -it  be  necessary  to 
tell  an  unpleasant  truth — if  it  be¬ 
comes  duty  or  obligation  of  law — 
even  the  truth  is  to  be  spoken  In 
love  without  acrimony,  hatred,  mal¬ 
ice,  envy  or  strife.  Oh.  what  a  val¬ 
uable  lesson  it  would  be  to  the  house 
of  sons  if  they  could  all  equally 
grasp  this  comprehensive  thought, — 
if  their  obligations,  not  only  to  each 
other  and  to  their  families  and 
friends,  bat  also  to  their  neighbors 
and  their  enemies — to  love  them,  to 
so  consider  their  interests  and  their 
welfare  in  general,  that  they  would 
do  nothing  and  say  nothing  to  the 
contrary;  but  gladly  at  tho  sacrifice 
of  their  own  convenience,  assist  them 
in  any  and  every  %eay,-k-"Doing  good 
unto  all  men  as  wo  have  opportunity, 
especially  to  tho  household  of  faith!” 
This  is  loviDg  our  neighbor  as  our¬ 
selves — not  as  he  loves  us. 

This  Is  tho  Rule — Love. 

Since  lovo  workB  blessings  to  the 
neighbor  and  seeks  his  welfare}  it 
fpllows  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
“Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neigh¬ 


bor."  Will  we  not,  as  the  Lord’s 
consecrated  people,  seek  to  put  this 
lesson  into  practice  iD  our  daily  lives? 
Will  we  not  learn  to  consider  the 
words  of  our  mouths,  and  to  remem¬ 
ber  that  we  can  smite  and  injure  n 
brother  or  a  neighbor  with  tbe 
tongue  as  truly  Bnd  more  seriously 
than  with  our  hands?  Will  we  not 
learn  that  in  even  mentioning  any¬ 
thing  uncomplimentary  respecting  a 
brother  or  a  neighbor,  we  are  surely 
working  him  ill,  doing  him  a 
jurtog-  S*»-  r-jmt&t-'fr* 
standing — however  true  the  uncom¬ 
plimentary  thing  may  be:  and  that 
in  so  doing  we  are  violating  the  law 
o;  God,  the  law  of  love?  Will  wc 
rot  learn  that  the  only  instance  in 
which  we  would  have  a  right  to  men 
Hon  an  uncomplimentary  thing  would 
be  in  tbe  event  of  our  seeing  a  broth¬ 
er  nr  a  neighbor  iiLdonger  of  injury 
by  another  and  thus  out  of  i.  ve  for 
him  be  called  upon  to  warn  him  of 
the  source  of  danger? 

This  warning  we  should  ba  sure 
was  necessary,  before  giving  it,  and 
should  be  couched  in  such  lan 
guage  as  sincere  love  for  the  danger 
ous  one  would  indicate.  Will  we  not 
learn  to  think  charitably  of  the 
words  and  actions  of  others,  and  to 
suppose  their  intentions  good,  until 
we  have  positive  evidence  to  the  con¬ 
trary:  and  will  we  not  learn  that 
then  we  should  go  to  the  offender, 
alone,  according  to  Matt  18.15,  sub¬ 
sequently,  if  occasion  require  Bnd  tbe 
matter  6eem  to  be  of  vital  import¬ 
ance,  taking  with  us  two  others,  fair 
and  impartial  in  judgment,  that  in 
the  presence  of  the  wroag-doer  they 
may  hear  from  him  as  well  as  from 
us  and  give  their  judgment  or  opin¬ 
ion  And  even  if  they  agree  with  us 
and  the  wrong-doer  is  not  yet  cor¬ 
rected  and  the  injury  to  us  is  still 
unabated,  we  are  still  not  at  liberty 
under  the  law  of  love  to  make  men¬ 
tion  of  -the  case  to  others,  but  to 
call  a  meeting  of  the  entire  congre¬ 
gation  and  there,  with  the  condemn¬ 
ed  one  present,  to  have  a  bearing 
and  a  judgment  of  the  Church  in  re¬ 
spect  to  the  matter. 

Z.  '00,  262  (1st  Col  Par  1.  2).— 
But  this  rule,  while  thuii  inculcating 
justice,  goes  beyond  this  and  incul¬ 
cates  benevolence. — ouch  benevolence 
and  so  much  of  it  as  we,  with  prop¬ 
erly  balanced  minds  would  be  dis¬ 
posed  to  ask  of  others  if  we  were 
the  ones  in  need,  in  straits.  Oh,  how 
grandly  rounded  out  iD  spiritual 
character  would  all  of  the  Lord's 
true  saints  become,  under  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  this  Golden  Rule!  It  would 
not  only  affect  the  actions  of  life, 
making  them  first  just  toward  al) 
with  whom  they  had  dealings,  then, 
benevolently  disposed  toward  all 
needing  their  assistance  to  whatever 
degree  they  were  able  to  render  as¬ 
sistance  without  doing  injury  to  oth¬ 
ers, — and,  additionally,  tbe  same  law 
in  force  woo'd  extend  also  to  tbeir 
every  word  Under  tho  regulations 
of  this  golden  (measurement  how  few 
bitter  or  angry  or  slanderous  words 
would  be  used — for  bow  few  would 
like  to  have  others  use  such  to  or 
of  them — to  6peak  to  them  in  anger 
and  with  bitterness  and  rancor,  or 
to  slander  them.  No  wonder  the 
Apo«tle  tells  us  that  those  who  have 
put  on  Christ  must  put  off  all  these: 
anger,  malice,  hatred,  strife,  envy 
slanders,  etc  Additionally,  this  Gold¬ 
en  Rule  would  lead  to  kind  words, 
gentle  actions,  ooneiderate  demeanor; 
for  who  would  not  wish  such  from 
his  neighbor?  As  .the  Apostle  again 
declares,  we  are*  to  put  on  as  Chris¬ 
tian  graces,  —  gentleness,  meekness, 
patience,  long  •  suffering,  brotherly 
kindness,  love. — Col.  3:8-10,  12-16. 

This  Goiden  Rule,  beginning  with 
(Continued  eo  Pag*  Two.) 


IN  THE  Winnipeg  Evening  Tribune, 
of  Jon  24.  is  tbe  revolting  re¬ 
port  of  how  Conscientious  Ob- 
f*rtors  were  tortured  in  Minto  Street 
barracks,  in  Winnipeg.  Car.ads.  The 
Tribune  uses  it  as  the  leading  fir&t- 
page  article,  and  carries  with  it  a 
picture  of  nine,  sll  of  whom  are  our 
brethren — members  of  the  I  B  S.  A 
Tho  treatment  was  so  heathenish 
that  some  of  the  soldiers  were  in¬ 
censed  snd  appeared  as  witnesses, 
testifying  that  such  barbarish  brutal 
ity  would  be  almost  unbelievable,  if 
reported  as  coming  from  Germany 
There  were  other  conscientious  ob¬ 
jectors  besides  our  brethren  who  re¬ 
ceived  punishment.  With  tha  others 
their  religious  and  conscientious  scru¬ 
ples  are  evidently  not  Life  and 
Death  issues,  for  they  gave  way  un¬ 
der  the  treatment.  When  a  person 
has  the  Truth  it  becomes  a  question 
of  Life  on  the  one  hand  and  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  Death  on  thf  other. 

And  while  this  inhuman  and  in¬ 
famous  crime  against  decency  took 
place  in  Canada,  we  are  sure  it  does 
not  represent  tbe  Sentiment  of  the 
■Canadian  Government,  no.  (more  than 
such  treatment  would  represent  our 
own  Government.  But  it  does  por¬ 
tray  the  lengths  to  which  devilish 
ingenuity  may  be  carried  when  the 
restraints  of  law  and  order  shall 
have  been  removed. 

That  these  brethren  were  well 
grounded  in  the  Truth  is  shown  by 
them  not  holding  any  resentment 
against  tbeir  tormentors.  That  these 
human  beasts  are  mentally  blind  is  a 
fact.  They  are  to  be  pitied.  With 
what  long-suffering  and  fortitude  it 
takes  to  be  dealt  with  thus!  And 
who  that  has  not  been  walking  in 
the  Master’s  footsteps  could  do  .it! 
How  Decessary  to  have  on  the  "whole 
armor,"  for  this  is  but  an  inkling  of 
what  is  on  tbe  way. 


“Clegg  on  being  Interviewed  ex¬ 
pressed  no  resentment  against  tho 
officer  whom  he  believes  to  bo  in 
charge  of  the  punishment  party.  Ho 
asked  that  some  assistance  be  sent 
to  ‘Ralph/  On  hearing  that  Matbe- 
son  had  relented  and  was  now  in 
uniform,  he  expressed  deep  regret.” 


The  Win- 


The  following  is  what 
nipeg  Tribune  had  to  say: 

"Have  .conscientious  oh  yctors  been 
tortured  at  Minto  Street  barracks? 

'How  much  truth  is  there  In  the 
report?,  circulated  in  Winnipeg  for 
the  last  week,  that  International  Bi¬ 
ble  students,  drafted  into  the  army, 
have  been  treated  cruelly  for  adher¬ 
ing  to  their  religious  convictions 
against  war?- 

"Information,  backed  by  affidavit, 
wan  obtained  by  The  Tribune  today 
that  one  soldier  Is  now  in  St.  Boni¬ 
face  hospital,  in  a  6erious  nervous 
condition  as  the  result  of  punish¬ 
ment  at  the  barracks. 

‘  Further  information  was  obtained 
that  at  least  one  other  draftee  was 
accorded  similar  treatment.  The 
Tribune  also  ascertained  that  Brig. 
Gen.  H.  N.  Ruttan,  commanding  offi¬ 
cer  of  the  district,  has  been  told  of 
the  situation  and  has  started  an  in 
vestigation  at  the  depot  battalion. 

"Robert  Clegg  is  ill  in  St  Boniface 
hospital.  Ralph  Naish  is  in  a  state 
of  nervous  prostration  and  Charles 
Matheson  is  now  in  khaki,  &9%a  re¬ 
sult  of  torture  which  they  allege  was 
inflicted  upon  them  by  non-commis¬ 
sioned  officers  of  the  Depot  Battalion 
because  of  their  conscientious  objec¬ 
tions  to  military  service.  Clegg  and 
Naish  are  members  of  the  Inter¬ 
national  Bible  Students'  Association. 
Matheson  is  a  member  of  the  Pente¬ 
costal  Faith. 

“According  to  an  affidavit  sworn 
to  by  Clegg  before  F  L.  Davidson, 
barrister  and  commissioner  for  oaths, 
these  men  were  subjected  to  ice-cold 
shower  baths  until  they  lost  con¬ 
sciousness,  Matheson  gave  way  under 
the.  treatment  and  after  several 
hours  resistance,  intimated  his  will¬ 
ingness  to  obey  orders.  Clegg  and 
Naish  were  firm  in  their  resolve* 
They  withstood  all  efforts  to  biake 
tbfeYh  acknowledge  authority. 

"The  torture  is  alleged  by  Clegg 
to  have  commenced  after  Lieut.  Col 
Osier,  officer  commanding  tbe  depot 
battalion,  had  in  orderly  room  sen¬ 
tenced  Clegg  and  Matheson  to  three 
days’  confinement  to  barracks  for  re¬ 
fusal  to  obey  a  lawful  command. 

Members*  of  the  International  Bi¬ 
ble  Students  Association  have  retain¬ 
ed  E.  J.  McMurray,  barrister,  to 
prosecute  all  those  responsible  for 
the  alleged  outrage  Mr.  McMurray 
declared  that  as  soon  as  he  could 
learn  all  the  names,  he  would  have 
warrants  issued  for  the  arrest  of 
every  individual  connected  therewith 
Furthermore,  he  said 

V  Tt  is  our  intention  to  prosecute 
these  persons  to  the  fullest  extent 
of  the  law.  It  is  High  time  such  out¬ 
rages  in  the  name  of  British  fair 
play  should  be  stopped 

"The  treatment  has  reduced  Clegg 
to  a  state  of  physical  exhaustion. 
When  aaked  to  sign  the  affidavit  he 
could  hardly  raise  himself  in  bed 
sufficiently  to  do  eo. 

"He  was  admitted  to  St.  Boniface 
hospital  at  about  8:3d  o'clock  Tues¬ 
day  evening.  For  6oroe  considerable 
time  half  a  dozen  attendants  were 
engaged  in  trying  to  restore  Him. 
Hi9  temperature  chart  indicates  that 
on  arrival  his  temperature  stood  at 
78  degrees.  A  notation  on  the  ‘con¬ 
dition  sheet*  made  by  the  examining 
physician  states,  ‘Patient  ?uffering 
frjen  acute  chill’ 


Our  Brother**  Own  Story. 

Here  is  the  text  of  tbe  affidavit 
sworn  to  by  Clegg: 

Manitoba 
To  Wit: 

In  the  matter  of  Robert  Clegg  and 
the  Military  Service  Act,  Canada, 
1917. 

I.  Robert  Cl*gg.  of  Winnipeg,  in 
Manitoba,  clerk,  make  oath  and  tty 
as  follows: 

1.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Inta^- 
national  Bible  Students  .Association, 
and  a  firm  believer  in  the  teachings 
and  principles  ‘  of  this  association, 
and  as  such,  gave  conscientious  ob¬ 
jections  to  tbe  undertaking  of  or 
peftkrijpetlon  in  the  racking  ef  war 
in  any  manner  whatsoever. 

2.  That  on  Friday,  the  18th  day 
of  January.  1918.  I  wae  taken  tn 
charge  by  the  Military  Police,  as  an 
absentee-  under  the  act,  and  later 
taken  to  Minto  barrack*. 

3.  That  in  consequence  of  refusal 
on  my  part  to  obey  commands,  I  was 
not  furnished  with  blankets  and 
slept  in  the  barrack*  basement  on 
benches  till  my  removal  to  St.  Boni¬ 
face  hospital  later. 

4  That  on  Monday,  January  21st, 
non-commissioned  officer  directed 
e  and  one  Matheson  to  take  hold 
of  certain  pails  which  he  pointed  out 
to  us,  we  refused,  and  he  made  dire 
threats  as  to  what  would  happen  to 
us  and  had  us  removed  to  detention, 
where  we  were  confined  till  the  fol¬ 
lowing  morning. 

5.  On  Tuesday  morning  following 
(being  January  22nd)  I  was  taken 
before  a  (major,  who  sent  me  before 

he  officer  commanding.,  and*  1  was 
sentenced  to  two  days  C.  B.  -rT' 

6.  After  sentence  I  wa t  taken  to 
the  drill  hall,  in  charge  of  military 
police,  then  the  non-commissioned 
officer  previously  referred  to  ordered 
me  taken  to  the  basement.  I  was 
taken  to  the  basement  and  the  said 
non-commissioned  officer  further  ques¬ 
tioned  me  as  to  whether  or  not  I 
would  obey  commands,  and  I  again 
reiterated  my  position. 

7.  Then  1  was  taken  to  the  ab¬ 
lution  rooms,  ordered  to  ur.dress, 
which  I  Refused  to  do,  so  faid  non¬ 
commissioned  officer  removed  -all  my 
clothes,  T  offering  no  resistance,  then 
he  led  me  into  a  shower  bath.  I  was 
then  subjected  to  a  violent  treat¬ 
ment  of  ice-cold  water,  which  was 
from  time  to  time  directed  at  my 
neck,  shoulders,  spine,  kidneys,  fore¬ 
head,"  chest. 

8  During  the  operation  above  de¬ 
scribed  I  was  held  by  said  non¬ 
commissioned  officer,  and  the  treat¬ 
ment  extended  over  a  period  of  15 
inutes  so  far  as  I  can  judge.  While 
still  undergoing  this  punishment  I 
was  seized  with  weakness  and  could 
hardly  stand  erect,  when  I  was  re¬ 
moved  from  tbe  compartment. 

9.  Upon  removal  from  shower 
bath  and  while  I  was  still  faint  and 
weak,  the  said  non-commissioned  offi¬ 
cer  said  to  me,  "If  you  want  to  fall 
now  you  can.  the  floor  is  hard/'  He 
then  proceeded  to  rub  me  down  with 
a  towel,  and  rubbed  and  dried  me  ter 
the  waist  when  he  handed  me  the 
towel  and  ordered  me  to  finish  dry¬ 
ing  myself,  which  I  refused  to  do. 
He  then  took  the  wet  towel  and  vio¬ 
lently  lashed  me  dry.  When  suffi¬ 
ciently  dry  to  suit  his  whim  he  or¬ 
dered  me  to  dress  and  I  refused  ~to 
obey,  and  the  military  put  my 
clothes  upon  me.  I  was  then  taken 
to  the  basement  and  run.  up  and 
down,  a  military  police  on  each  arm. 
Soon  I  was  ordered  to  help  load  a 
van  I  refused,  and  was  then  placed 
in  detention. 

10.  About  3  or  4  o’clock  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  on  which 
I  suffered  the  punishment  above  re¬ 
cited,  I  wa?  again  taken  to  the  ab¬ 
lution  room  and  again  subjected  to 
the  ordeal  which  1  had  undergone  in 
the  morning,  except  that  1  was  not 
lashed  with  a  towel,  but  while  still 
wet  my  clothes  were  put  upori-’  me. 
All  the  second  treatment  was  under 
tbe  direction  of  a  returned  soldier 

11.  I  was  in  a  semi-conscious  state 
during  the  greater  period  of  the 
second  treatment,  and  when  taken 
out,  I  was  seated  upon  a  cold  stone 
slab,  which  caused  me  to  lose  con¬ 
trol  of  myself  and  become  absolutely 
incapablo  of  any  control  of  my 
limbs,  or  muscles,  and*  was  attacked 
with  a  severe  fit  of  hiccoughs  which 
was  more  severe  than  on  the  occasion 
of  the  first  treatment.  Presently, 
while  still  wet  and  in  a  condition  of 
complete  nervous  prostration,  and 
helplessness,  I  was  dressed  without 
®ny  underclothes,  dragged  on  the  con¬ 
crete  floor,  upstairs,  through  the 
drill  hall,  to  the  place  of  detention, 
where  I  was  left  unattended,  al¬ 
though  absolutely  helpless. 

12.  I  have  a  dim  recollection  that 
while  I  lay  In  the  detention  cell,  my 

(Continued  on  Pajrw 


A  PAGE  FROM  A  RUSSELLITE  PAPER. 

(Note  the  allusions  to  the  Red  Cross  and  the  Conscientious  Objectors.) 

E 


Vol.XXIV.  Nr.  85 


Nr.  1538 


Copenhagen 

Rotterdam 

Stockholm 

Vienna 

Sofia 

Zurich 

Constantinople 


German  Office* 

Berlin  W.M 

Aogtburgir  Strata*  N 

Hentbsrg 

MAockabarg-Stratlt  p 


AN  INOePENDENt  COSMOPOLITAN  N1WSPAPUK 


•tUDcPDIDTinil'  Called  btataa  jD*Ueri  SwiUrnod  1  <£**■*«  mtST)  to*  I  Math t 

SlrBotKIr  I  IUN.  Holland  .  .  .  tonkjf*  ftnltb  .  .  t  Inw  Owwaaf  •  Mark*  / 


MONDAY,  JANUARY  14,  19J8 


PRICE!  9  cents.  29  «•&*<»**  20  P» 


LATEST  NEWS 

Very  im porta.. t  meetings  have 
taken  place  between  the  Generals 
von  Hindenburg  and  Ludendorff 
who  have  been  in  Berlin  since 
Saturday— and  the  leading  States¬ 
men. 

The  presence  of  the  Crown- 
prince  in  the  Capital  is  also  not 
without  importance. 

On  Sunday  there  were  further 
important  meetings  between  the 
military  leaders  and  the  Imperial 
Chancellor,  Count  Hertling. 

Following  upon  the  mentioned 
Conferences  will  be  a  Crown 
Council  to  be  held  today  presided 
ever  by  the  Kaiser.  It  will  not 
be  a  Crown  Council  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word  as  all  the 
Ministers  will  not  be  present. 
However  there  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  tb/s  Council  will  have  a 
great  influence  On  the  further 
conduct  of  the  war  and  in  the 
unfolding  of  German  policy. 

Outside  of  the  so  important 
Council,  and  as  a  result  of  the 
same,  it  Is  stated  that  there  may 
be  expected  two  speeches  of  the 
Imperial  Chancellor  during  this 
week.  The  one  will  be  given  be¬ 
fore  the  Commission  of  the  Reichs¬ 
tag  upon  foreign  politics,  the 
other  in  the  Herrenhaus  upon 
infernal  politics  of  Prussia.  It  is 
anticipated,  although  it  is  not 
quite  sure,  that  the  speech  before 
the  Commission  will  take  place 
on  Wednesday  next  when  the 
general  political  debate  will  be 
resumed  which  had  been  post¬ 
poned  on  account  of  the  doings . 
of  the  Peace  Conference. 

The  Chancellors  speech  will 
take  place  in  the  Herrenhaus  on 
Tuesday,  when  be  will  present 
himself  to  the  Upper  House  as 
Minister  President. 

la  London  the  report  runs  that  Turd  Norlhcliffe 
has  been  inri'ed  to  join  the  War  Cabinet 


THE  HUNGER  STRIKERS 


The  Dutch  Government  has  addressed  an  ener¬ 
getic  protest  to  the  Portuguese  Government  In 
reference  to  the  seizure  of  the  Dutch  ship 
"Kennemerlend".  U#on  a  Hinny  pretax!  the  ship 
wa9  slopped  by  the  'Portuguese  in  November  last 
aH  the  Canary  Islands  and  after  having  been  de¬ 
tained  until  now,  Hie  o-rpo  of  moizo  has  been 
confiscated  because  the  Portuguese  in  St  Vincent 
are  in  need  ol  it,  _ 

Large  U-Boat  Booty 

The  Chiet  of  the  Actnirally  Staff  repor's  the 
sinking  ot  36.0CO  Iona  o!  shipping  to  the 
Mediterranean. 

Most  of  the  ehlp«  snnlt  ctlritd  valuable 
cargoes  for  Italy,  and  English  trade  In  the 
Oiient.  Alter  seveie  fighting  two  convoys  were 
overcome  and  the  tlx  steamers  thus  protected 
wr re  destro)ed.  O'  those  steamers  whose 
identification  was  possible  were  the  English 

"Fitcut,”  4,170  lo»:  i  i  “Turnbridgc,"  2.374 

Ions;  ‘'Cliftondale,"  3,811  tons;  "Waverley,” 
3,550  ons;  the  two  last  with  5,000  tons  of  coal 
lor  Mnl:a  and  Port  Said. 

Th*  Captain  of  the  "Cliftondale'’,  which  was 
armed  with  two  15  centimeter  mortars,  was 
taken  orisoner. 

Further  the  Italiari  iteimer  "Pietro,"  3,860 
tons,  was  rusk  having  been  fought  down  by 
cannon  fire;  whilst  the  English  steamer 
"Persler,”  3,874  tons,  was  torpedoed  on  Its 
way  to  Otranto. 

The  abov™  victims  were  due  to  Capt.  v. 
Arnauld  de  la  Pernere, 

In  the  Western  portion  of  the  prqscrloed 
district  around  England  another  19,000  tons  of 
ihippirg  hat  been  sunk.  In  spite  of  the 
eneig  tic  resistance  four  large  ships  were  shot 
out  of  a  convoy.  In  a  night  attack  bn  the 
the  utilisation  of  the  ram,  a 'U-boat  destroyer 
tfas  so  bad)  damaged  that  its  los9  may  be 
taken  es  well-ntgh  certain.  The  U-boat,  beyoni 
a  slight  damage  to.  tfr e  bow,  suffered  no  harm. 


In  all"  the.  English  newapapera  of  late  there 
ll  continue  us  cu  cry  concerning  the  constantly 
Incrosng  number  ot  ships  sunk.  At  a  recent 
me-enrg  ot  an  English  Steamship  Company,  the 
Chaim-an  stand  that  out  of  the  14  ships  be- 
lending  to  ihe  comp»n)  not' one  but  that  had. 
been  a  acted.  Tbe,Co»n»ny  had  loast  a  num¬ 
ber  oi  an  f>.  In  the  cour*e  of  the  sear. 

At*  articie  in  the  Nautical  Magazine  states 
that  up  io  a  6hort  while  past  ships  might  make 
itveial  vo>»gts  without  seeing  a  U-*oat,  but 
tl  at  lately  ih*t  bad  altered  as  the  number  of 
U  boat*  had  been  considerably  augmented, 
ihe  ne.wl)  ecopied  per. a*. ope  is  smaller  than 
lormerly  a/io  therefore  not  so  easy  to  see. 


fC*vHf**  *»  * 

"Well  have  to  eat  of  that  cake  sooner  or  laterl” 


THE  SELF-ASSUMED  ARBITER  OF  THE  DESTINIES  OF  EUROPE 

By  Aubrey  Stanhope 

small  majority,  a  man  who  is  opposed  by 


It  ia  a  truly  strange  and  unnatural  slate  of 
things  which  chutes  President  Wilton  to  imagine 
that  he  bat  as  destiny  the  notification  of  the 
map  of  Europe. 

Mr.  Wllion’a  Mtsaage  to  Congress  is  a  truly 
a  rat  zing  document  In  it  the  man  who  pro¬ 
fesses  to  be  the  Champion  of  Democracy  and 
asserts  to  himself  all  tbe  airs  and  manners  of 
a  Diclator  to  the  world  in  general,  and  the 
European  nations  in  particular,  in  sweeping 
terms,  with  all  the  assumption  of  one  who  hat 
achieved  a  series  ot  glorious  triumphs  in  the 
Held  of  battle  and  (a  thus  in  a  position  to 
dictate  the  term*  he  wlabea  to  a  fallen  and  ex¬ 
hausted  enemy,  expresses  his  will  as  to  what 
shall  be  done  with  the  nations  of  Europe. 

Tbe  Qaery 

He  proposes  to  give  Alsace-Lorraine  hack  to 
France,  for,  although  reputed  to  be  *n  historian, 
Mr.  Wilson  has  a  way  of  forgetting  all  historical 
facts  when  it  suits  his  purpose  and  (alia  to 
remember  that  Alsace-Lorraine  was  taken  from 
tbe  Qermans  by  a  French  sovereign.  In  case 
Professor  Wilton  should  have  the  slightest  doubt 
upon  this  matter,  we  refer  him  to  that  well- 
known  book  of  reference,  pubiithed  In  London, 
which  therefore  cannot  be  taken  as  biassed  in 
favjr  of  Oermany,  In.  which,  under  tbe  beading 
of  Alsace-Lorraine  is  written: 

The  “Reichsland"  of  Alsace-  Lomdiu  v-hich  was 

annrtrrl  hj>  Franer  from  tht  old  Qcruum  Empire 

between  1648  and  1697  and  restored  to  *V»- 
many  In  1871. 

In  thus  using  the  word  "restored0  tbe  world 
famed  Whitaker's  Almanack'  lived  up  to  Its  rep¬ 
utation  at  a  work  which  has  established  Its 
fame  through  its  consistent  accuracy  and  nn- 
partlzan  manner  of  treating  every  question. 
But  if,  as  history  tells  us,  that  Louis  XIV  of 
France,  suraamed  Le  Grand,  wrung  Alsace- 
Lorraine  from  tbe  old  Oerman  Empire  which 
had  fallen  Into  a  state  of  weakness,  how  could 
it  be  a  "wrong  done,"  as  Wilton  puts  it,  for 
Oerniany  in  1871,  when  tbe  Oerman  States 
had  grown  strong  again  and  bad  just  budded 
out  once  more  into  an  Empire,  to  take  back 
from  France  what  France  bad  taken  from  Qer- 
many  ?  Who  in  falnclndedne  a  could  possibly 
characterise  that  at  a  wreng ?  It  was  merely 
the  .certain  result  of  France  having  gone  to . 
war  with  Oermany,  and  the  penalty  of  the 
formar  country  having  loti.  ^ 

Or.  Tbe  Other  Hand 

Does  anyone  for  one  moment  imagine  that 
if  France  bad  won,  that  country  would  not 
have  mulcted  Oermany  of  its  Rhine  provinces  ? 
Why  of  course  It  would.  And  could  anjone 
near  a  half  century  later  on  have  been  entitled 
to  describe  that  annexation,  tbe  fruits  of  a 
victorious  war,  as  a  wrong  or  an  injustice  ? 
Certainly  not!  « 

Neutral  politicians  and  diplomats  upon  this 
side  of  tpe  Atlantic,  ask  each  oiher  in  amaze¬ 
ment  :  “What  on  eaith  has  Mr.  Wilson;  a 
chance  President  cf  the  Unlit  d  States,  a  man 
,  who  waa  returned  to  the  White  Houae  by  a 


hundreds  of  thousands  oC  hit  best  conntrymen 
bn  his  war  craze,  a  man  who  was  returned  to 
the  highest  position  In  hia  native  land  on  the 
cry  of  peace  and  who  Immediately  be  was 
elected  and  safely  seated  in  tbe  Chair  of  Chief 
Executive  for  another  four  years  suddenly  be¬ 
came  an  irrepressible  Jingo;  got  to  do  with 
the  transmogrification  of  the  map  of  Europe?" 

One  wonders  at  tlraea  what  kind  of  a  con¬ 
dition  of  mind  is  that  of  ihe  President  of  the 
United  Slates  which  impels  him  to  cslmly  sug¬ 
gest  the  disintegration  of  Austria-Hungary,  Oer¬ 
many  and  Turkey,  also  the  submission  of  the 
nations  of  Europe  lo  tbe  decisions  of  a  Court 
Of  Nation*,  one  of  which  would  be  America,  at 
which  would  be  decided  upon  ihe  future  re¬ 
lations  ol  the  various  nations  of  Europe  to  one 
another.  He  wants  to  settle  tbe  Servian  question 
In  a  manner  which  suits  the  Entente  and  Ame¬ 
rica,  although  the  countries  principally  futer- 
ested  in  that  question  are  Austria,  Bulgaria  and 
Turkey.  He  seeks  to  support  the  absurd 
"National  Ideals"  of  Italy  by  paring  away 
towns  and  provinces  from  Austria-Hungary ; 
he  wishes  to  ereate  a  fanciful  new  Poland,  at 
the  cost  of  Oermany ;  and  he  insists  on  posirig 
as  the  friend  of  Russia  and  helping  that 
courtly  to  become  the  bind  of  nation  suitable 
to  America  whether  it  Hkes  It  or  not. 

J W>»n  Of  Wa* 

President  Wilson  drew  his  country  Into  this 
war  became  Ibe.Oefmahs  Inihrted  npoo  sink- 
tag  American  Ships  Jhakcrrrffed  contraband  of 
war  to  thfclr  enemf^s.  Tout  rash  act  none 
could  prevent  him  doing  tf  he  could  only  get 
Congress  to  Support  him.  That  support  be 
obtained  v  But  the  reason  tor  going  to  war 
remains  the-  same,  the  U  float  blockade  It 
seems  tnortdible  tetPMore,  and  quite  illogical, 
that  because  (he  submarine*  interfered  with  (he 
American  merchant  ships  and  sank  them,  Mr. 
Wilson  should  suddenly  find  it  Incumbent  upon 
him  sell  to  interfere  in  tht  complicated  Balkan 
riddle,  the  national  questions  ot  rivalry  between 
Italy  and  Austria  Hangary,  the  future  of  Poland 
and  the  Dardanelles,  the  Armenian  question 
and  a  bbst  more  in  which  he  meddles  tout 
which  ece  strictly  the  affair  of  tho European 
powers  end  are  not  of  -any  immediate  concern 
to  the  United  States. 

*  •  Becoming  EnUtqgled 

WMlft  expressing  hlmaelf  thus  arrogantly, 

I  whilst  indicating  clearly  to  the  world  that  he 
fl  little  eware  pf  tbe  complication  ol  the 
question*  which  he  brings  up  with  such  light- 
nest,  aa  though  they  were  matters  which  could 
be  settled  olf  band,  Mr.  Wilton,  at  home,  U 
slowly  but  surely  becoming  entangled  in  ovar 
whelping  (rouble «  ,- of  innumerable  kinds. 
Woodrow  Wilson  tooay  cannot  live  np  to  the 
promises  he  made  to  bis  Eatente.  allies.  Nor 
does  it  look  at  ail  as  1!  be  would  ever  be 
able  to  do  ao.  His  men  fall,  bis  abipa  fall, 
bit  railroads  fail,  his  coal  supplies  are  lacking, 
wat  ebaoa  reigns  from  one  end  of  the  Uoited 


States  to  ihe  other.  Such  are  tbe  Hrat  fmita 
of  America’s  declaration  of  war. 

Whilst  waiting  in  vain  for  American  help, 
the  Entente  troops  are  being  beaten  badly. 

The  Allies  are  in'  fttr  every  hour  of  a  great 
offensive  being  commenced  against  them  and 
they  do  rot  know  what  to  do.  Realising  that 
the  American  aid  will  not  reach  them  in  time 
they  now  Implore  the  help  of  tbe  Japant&e. 
But  tbe  "Japs”  are  too  astute  to  be  drawn  into 
the  meshes  that  have  enveloped  so  raauy 
foolish  countries,  laslly  ot  all  Ihe  United 
States. 

Lloyd  Oeorge  makes  a  wild  and  bombastic 
speech  In  which  he  refuses  all  possible  chances 
offered  him  of  peace.- And  immediately  Woodrow 
Wfltnn  echoes  It  with  sn  almost  identical  speech, 
only  a  little  more  reckless  and  if  possible  more 
illogical.  And  thus  tbe  leaders  of  two  great 
nations  abut  the  door  of  peace  and  condemn 
thousands  of  brave  men  to  perish  on  account 
cf  their  whims. 

Terrible  I  Tragical  beyond  imagination! 


Coal  Shortage  In  America 

New  York,  Sunday.  It  transpires  that  the 
attachment  of  the  railroad  systems  of  the  U.  S. 
by  tbe  Government  was  owing  to  (be  aborisge 
of  coal  which  also  condemns  to  idleness  over 
1  roillio*-  of  shipping  UP  in  th* 

*.«rbor  of  New  York.  The  number  ol  such 
ships  Increases  dally,  every  possible  lauding 
being  crowded  with  them.  Twenty-two  ships 
have  been  detained  since  Nov.  24,  wailing  tor 
com,  amongst  them  15  ships  betweea  6,000  and 
15,000  tons  which  belong  lo  the  Anglo-Ameri¬ 
can  Corporation. 


DIPLOMATIC  SECRECY  TABOOD 

All  goes  well  at  Brest  Litowrk  1 

Commb  slone-  Trotzki,  who  shows  himself  In 
good  light,  has  declared  quite  emphatically  that 
he  Is  for  peace  aud  has  mentioned  incidentally 
that  no  influences  of  the  Entente  can  in  any 
way  cause  the  new  Oovemmect,  to  change 
from  that  desire. 

The  Ukraines  have  made  Irportant  state¬ 
ments.  They  wish  to  be  quite  free  in  the 
future,  but  at  tbe  same  time  to  farm  ,a 
Federated  State  attached  lo  the  fatherland, 
Russia. 

Secretary  of  Slate  v.  Kub’mann  and  Count 
Czernin  are  proving  tbemselvea  active  and  re¬ 
sourceful  and  display  a  firmness  which  ia  very 
necesrary  in  view  of  ihe  circumstance!. 

From  tbe  mament  th.-  Bolscbewiki  Govern¬ 
ment  gave  up  the  Idea  *'f  going  to  Stockholm 
and  Commissioner  Trotzki  decided  to  go  to 
Brest  Lftowsk,  a  big  step  towards  the  Ultimate 
success  of  the  Conference  had  been  made. 
Putting  The  Fact* 

Count  Czernin  made  a  highly  judicious  speech 
following  upon  an  operflng  addret*  b;  Doctor 
v.  Kublmtnn.  Therein  be  emphasized  the  fact 
that  the  Entente  Powers  and  their  alliea  had, 
by  failing  to  re-ply  to  tbe  invitation  extended 
to  them  to  be  present  at  the  conference,  shown 
that  they  were  cot  desirous  of  a  general  peace 
and  that  therefore  the  whole-object  of  the  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Delegates  now  resolved  itself  into 
bringing  about  a  separate  peace  be  ween  Russia 
and  the  Central  Powers  and  toeir  allies.  The 
latter  were  fully  prepared  to  make  peace  upon 
the  basis  agreed  to.  If  the  members  of  the 
Russian  Delegation  were  similarly  inspired 
satisfactory  results  would  be  reached,  but  if 
riot  matters  must  take  their  course  and  the 
responsibility  for  the  continuation  of  the  war 
would  rest  entirely  with  the  Russian  delegates. 

Count  Czernfn  on  behalf  of  the  Central 
Powers  said,  addressing  the  Ukraine  delegates  : 
We  recognise  the  Ukraine  Delegation  as  an 
Independent, Delegation  having  full  powers  on 
behalf  ot  the  Ukraine  People’s  Republic.  Tbe 
formal  recognition  of  the  Ukraine  People’s 
Republic  H9  an  independent  State  will  be  in¬ 
cluded  In  tbe  Treaty  of  Peace. 

Another  point  of  good  omen  lies  in  tbe  fact 
that  the  Petersburg  Qoveraraent  has  recognised 
the  right  of  tbe  Ukraine  to  send  delegates. 
Comarittee  Formed 

Agreeably  to  the  r<  solutio  i  adop  ed  at  Thurs¬ 
day’s  full  session,  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day 
deputations  of  the  delegations  of  Oermany, 
Austria-Hurgary  and  Russia  met  in  conference. 
It  was  agTted  that  the  Committee  for  the  de¬ 
liberation  cf  political  and  territorial  questions 
proposed  by  the  Russian  delegation  on  De¬ 
cember  27,  1917,  should  be  formed  and  that 
alongside  with  the  ^deliberation ;  of  that  com 
mittee  there  should  be  preliminary  discus. ions 
of  the  special  reporters  of  the  Individual,  de¬ 
legations  upon  the  regulation  of  the  ecoeomical 
and  legal  questions.  It  was  further  agreed  that 
the  above-mentioned  committee  should  begin 
its  deliberations  on  January  II,  at  10  a.m.  On 
part  of  the  Germans  and  Austro-Hungarians 
there  were  delegated  to  the  committee :  The 
Presidents  of  the  two  delegations,  a  diplomatic 
and  military  associate  and  two  •^-retariea 
resr??'  «—  «*«*»«*n  delegation  reserved 

its  decision  as  to  tbe  number  of  members  to 
be  tent  to  the  committee. 


TYRANNY  IN  UNITED  STATES 

Stockholm,  Sunday.  Nya  DagUgt  A  Ue hand  a 
baa  Interviewed  a  traveller  who  baa  jnat  re¬ 
turned  from  America.  He  says  that  a 
"Tzariitlc"  regime  holds  throughout  the  States 
and  that  in  all  sections  of  society  spies  abound 
wboae  duty  it  la  to  sternly  repress  tbe  ever 
growing  sentiment  of  peace  existing  amongst 
tbe  people.  It  often  happens  that  those  who 
express  themselves  critically  are  arrested  Im¬ 
mediately  on  rcaeblog  the  street.  In  apite  of 
all  propaganda  tbe  war  ia  unpopular  with  the 
pebplr.  Above  all  the  soldiers  fear  the  cross 
tog  of  the  Atlantic,  knowing  that  several 
transports  have  been  sunk.  Provisions  there 
are  In  plenty  but  the  prices  for  them  are  pro¬ 
hibitive  and  serious  riots  have  taken  place  in 
consequence. 

RUSSIAN  WORKS  CLOSED 

Pstcnbnrg,  Sunday.  A  very  big  Ruisian  com- 
merdil  entcrpriie,  tbe  Peter.burg  Stol  Worki, 
belonging  lo  ttx  firm  o!  Ludwig  Nobel  h.i 
been  cloied  until  further  notice.  Tbli  i>  doty 
one  ot  men,  big  concern!  which  hive  laikd 
ol  Idle. 


Trotzki  Speaks  Out  Clearly 

Lendon,  Sundey.  According  to  deipetchei 
from  Prlersburg  the  Peopie’e  Commiitioncr 
for  Foreign  Alfiln,  M.  Trolzki,  ha,  sent  the 
French  Ambirsador  a  paper  upoa  which  a 
Dumber  of  very  direct  queatlon,  are  asked  aa 
regards  tbe  atlilude  adopted  by  France.  Tbe 
Amba«»ador  is  invited  lo  reply  directly  whether 
or  no  France  Ia  favourable  lo  tbe  new  Republic. 
The  Ambmador  la  given  .to  underatand  that 
upon  bis  reply  drpendi  the  fate  ol  the  French 
subjects,  ofliceri  and  officials  remaining  In 
Russia.  It  I,  well  known  rhat  Ihe  French  are 
punuirg  a  policy  of  fntrlgne  with  Kakdin 
and  olhera  to  Ihe  detriment, of  tbe  existing  re¬ 
gime,  and  Ihe  Government  is  determined  to 
•  lop  auch  action.  II  the  queitions  thu,  put 
ate  not  answered  in  a  saliif.ciory  manner  tbe 
politico  ol  Ihe  Ambaaiado;  will  become  unten¬ 
able  and  he  will  have  to  follow  ihe  example 
ol  Sir  Ocbige  Buchanan  and  leave  tre  country. 

Pichon  Against  Maximalists 

Paris,  Sunday.  M.  Picbon  has  made  a  violent 
speech  In  which  be  inveighs  against  tbe  Max¬ 
imalist  Russian  Government.  He  said  that  the 
French  Government  bad  io  desire  to  become 
engaged  in  any  mttreoune  whh  tbe  Maximalists 
because  be  bad  tbe  proof  that  Germany  has 
endeavoured  to  force  Frjnce  to  such  a  course. 


A  PAGE  FROM  A  GERMAN  PAPER  PRINTED  IN  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 
This  issue  was  sent  into  the  British  lines  by  a  paper  balloon. 

F 


3*  Annie.  —  N»  469 


5  PFENNIG 


Tlrage:  160,000  Exemplaire£ 


Charleville,  le  2  Octobre  1917 


Gazette  des  Ardennes 


On  •'©bonne  din*  tou*  l*>©  bureaux  Ao  po»u 
8  ©dr-osaor  ®vi>otuell©ment  k  1*  Kommaad.xntiir 


JOURNAL  DES  PAYS  OCCUPY  PARAI5S ANT  OUATRE  FOIS  PAR  SEMAINE 


U  •  Edition  niustrbe  do  Lb  0©z*tt«  do#  Ard*ooa#  » 
pjLraJt  trot#  foi#  par  moil  PrU  do  ooxDdro  BO  Mol 


PAR  UN  FRANQAIS 


XaJme  A  relire  )©s  aneieas  autturs, 
eeux  qui  tcrivaienl  au  temps  oQ  1'on 
pensatl  encore  en  France,  on  1'on 
•’efforcoit  d®  bannlr  du  raisonnemcnt 
la  passion  qui  le  trouble,  oO  enftn  Ton 
parlait  la  languo  pure,  dl^gant*  el 
elaire  qul  fit  la  glotre  de  ontre 
litt6rature.  II  faut  avouer,  hyias,  que 
nous  sommes  bien  d£chus  eujourd'hut. 
Les  protagonistes  de  1'MAe  francatse. 
©u  du  nioins  ceux  qui  se  donnent  pour 
tels,  lea  membres  A  jamais  llluAtres 
de  notre  immortelle  Acad^mie,  qu'iJs 
•e  nomment  Harris,  Lavcdan  ou  Ri- 
ehepin,  se  servent  d'un  charabia 
amphigounque  essayant  de  remplacer 
la  logique  ahsente  et  la  penst'e 
mtSprlsGe  par  une  suite  incohyrenle 
de  grandiloqttenles  images  el  de  mo  Is 
■onores,  que  le  locleur  admire 
d’aulant  plus  qu'tl  les .  ©oniprcntb 
moms,  selon  la  rcmarque  quVn  avail 
d^jA  faile  le  vicux  Corneille.  En 
Xeinllelant  done,  ds  ci  de  lb.  pour  me 
reposer  de  la  -prose  couruntc,  les 
ltvres  qui  furent  les  dAlicca  de  nos 
p£res,  je  fais  des  trouvailles  se 
rapportant  k  la  guerre  artuelle  ;  tant 
11  est  vraj  que  rien  n'est  nouveau  sous 
le  soleil,  et  quo  nos  pr^tendues  inven¬ 
tions  ne  sont  que  des  rdfrlitions,  par- 
fois  sans  doute  considijrablement 
augment^es,  mais  ne  presentant 
•omme  toute  que  du  d£jci  vu  ou  du 
d£j£t  dit.  11  n’y  a  lk,  comma  dirait  un 
math^maticien,  qu’une  question  de 
cceiYicient.  Mais  la  faculty  d'oubll  de 
l’horrmie  est  incommensurable,  et 
parlois  il  semble  qu’A  chaque 
g6n^ralion  la  vie  de  l’humanity 
recommence. 

Je  Buis  tomby  aujourd’hui  sv.r  ce 
passage  de  Chateaubriand  (Itindraire 
der  Paris  k  Jerusalem,  Preface  de 
1  Edition  de  1827).  Qu’on  me  permelle 
de  ltf  diten  -  • ’* '  ’ 

«  II  y  a  deux  sorles  de  neutrality 
Tune  qui  defend  tout,  1’autre  qui 
permot  tout. 

•«  La  neutrality  qui  defend  tout  peut 
avoir  des  inconvdmenls  :  elle  peut  en 
certains  cas  manquer  de  gdndrositd, 
mais  elle  est  strictement  juste. 

«  La  neutrality  qui  pdrmet  tout  est 
une  neutrality  marchande,  vdnale ,  in- 
tdressce:  quand  les  parties  bellig4- 
rantes  sont  en  puissance  indgales,  cette 
neutrality,  veritable  derision,  est  une 
hostility  pour  la  partie  faible,  coninie 
elle  est  une  connivence  pour  la  partie 
forte.  Mieux  vaudrait  se  joindre  fran- 
chement  k  Toppresscur  conlre 
l’opprimy,  car  du  moins  on  n’ajoute- 
rait  pas  I'hypocrisie  d  I'injustice.  « 

Chateaubriand  ycrivait  ces  paroles 
A  l’occasion  des  yvynomcnls  de  Grdce, 
que  l’Europe  d’alors  suivait  avec  une 
curiosity  attentive  et  passionnde.  II 
ajoutait  ; 

a  Vous  laissez  le,  pacha  d'Egypte 
bAtir  des  vaissepux  dans  vos  ports, 
vous  lui  fournisscz  tous  les  moyens 
qui  sont  en  votre  pouvoir  pour  achever 
ses  expeditions,  et  vous  oli les  que  les 
Grecs  peuvent  en  faire  autant  !  » 

II  prouve  que  les  'G'rccs  sont  dans 
rininossibility  de  profjter  des  avan* 
t-BWcs  que  I  on  accorde  au  pacha  leur 
adveisaire,  et-  conclut  par  celle 
exclamation  vditdmcnle  : 

«  Ne  venez  pas,  en  insurant  la 
raison  el  l' humanity ,  appelcr  du  norn 
de  neutrality  une  alliance  abomi¬ 
nable. 


Tous  ceux  qui  liront  cclte  citation 
en  feronl.  comma,  moi,  l'application 
immediate  A  i’homme  qui  gouverne 
aujourd’hui,  plus  despotiquement  que 
n’a  jamais  gouverntf  aucun  despote, 
les  Elats-tlnis  d’Amyrique,  k  1'hoinme 
qui  se  croit  dans  son  orgueil  1’arbitre 
des  dcstf;i6cs  du  mondc,  j’ai  nommd 
M.  Wilson. ~Cet  JiQmn.e  qui  se  dresSe 
k  l'autre  bouTde' la  terre  et  pretend 
dans,  son  outrecuidsnco  -dieter  des  loia 
aux  nations  ytrangeres,  ce  ■  fanalique 
xanglanl  qui  trouve  que  le  massacre 
n’a  p«s  assez,dur6  et  qu’il  convient  de 
tuei?  encore  -quclqncs  centals  de 
nRtlicrs  >  tl'iu.joce.iln,  afin  '  qiie 
triompjient.  jlori  pas  ses  idecs,  mais 
ses  pryjuges,  cet  instrument  aux 
mains. des.  ploulucra’lcs,  qui  s’lmaginc 
quo  les  Lc  IJeS  dnnt  on  le  fait  marcher 
sont,  r^;u«s  pnr-sa  propre  volonte,  e’est 
sous’  i/jy.  n.asque  qu  il  se  prison  le,  et 
ec  mosqiie,'  Chateaubriand  a  pris  soin 
de  -nous  le  dire,  couvre  I’injustice.  et‘ 
I'hypocrisie.  L'injustice,  car  U  a 


favorisA  un  parti  nu  detriment  d< 
1 'a  ut  re,  en  lui  fournlsaant  sana 
dysemparer  de  nouvetlos  annes,  on  le 
soutenanl  do  son  credit  et  de  son  or, 
en  I’encourageont  par  $a  pressc.  en 
lui  laissant  rypandry  contre  son 
adversaire  les  pircs  calomnies,  en  se 
soumrlUnt  enfm  k  sa  loi  :  I'hypocrisie, 
car  U  a  allegud  de  son  bon  voulcur 
vis-it-vis  du  plus  faible,  et  dit 
Ironiquement  4  cel ui-ci  qu’on  lui 
vendrait  tout  sussi  bien  des  munitions 
•'il  pouvait  venir  les  prendre,  car  il 
t  protesty  mmoles  fois  do  sa  volonty 
de  rosier  neutre  dans  le  conflit. 

A-l-il  cru  un  instant,  lorsqu'/i 
■’fist  offert  .-••mme  arbitre,  le  rarneau 
d  olivicr  k  la  main,  que  le  nionde 
n  avail  pas  encore  su  discerner  son 
vrai  visage  ?  La  premiere  quality  d’un 
juge,  c’e.st,  n'esUil  pas  vrai,  d'«Hro 
juste.  Comment  pouvaiUon  supposcr 
cette  quality  a  cclui  dont  toute  la 
conduilu  antyrieure  n 'avail  yty  qu’une 
manifestation  d'injusticc  ?  La  scconde, 
de  cos  qualilcs  e'est  le  courage,  qui 
donne  la  force  de  braver,  pour  la 
cause  que  Ion  eslime  juste,  l’opinion 
et  les  menaces  des  puissants.  Ce 
courage  n'est  jamais  ic  partage  de 
rhypocrile.  L’Allemagnc  aurait  fait  un 
my  tier  de  dupe  en  romeltant  A  ect 
homme  le  soin  de  jugcr  son  procAs. 
Elle  a  pryfyr-6  ne  conficr  sa  defense 
qu  k  elle-myme,  elle  a  loyalement 
invity  ses  ennemis  k  un  arrangement 
k  I'amiable,  elle  a  yearly  1’importun 
masquy.  Nui  ne  peut  lui  faire  un 
Teprochc  d'avoir  agi  de  la  sorle.  4 
LYvi-npment  du  reste  n'a  pas 
xnanqny  de  lui  donner  raison,  car  1'ar- 
bilre  soi-disant  impartial  s'est  enfln 
dyvoiiy  sous  son  vrai  jour,  e.t  e'est  lui 
qui  se  rAvfcle  maintenant  l’ennemi  le 
■plus  ,  intraiMbla_  .L’elljanca. 
qu'il  aVait  le  front  de  nommer 
neutrality,  et  ce  «  en  insultant  la 
raison  et  1'humanity  »,  est  devenue 
une  alliance  ryelle,  le  magistral 
•upposy  a  tiry  enfm  le  poignard  qu'il 
tenait  cachy  sous  sa  robe  .  il  est' 
mieux  qu'il  en  soil  ainsi. 

Mais  ne  croyez  pas  que  M.  Wilson 
ait  ehangd  de  nature.  Tout  en 
paraissant  vouloir  agir  ddsormais  k 
visage  dycouvert,  il  n'a  fait  en 
ryality  que  changer  de  masque.  Alors 
que  celui  qu’il  porUiit  tout  d'abord  so 
nommait  Neutrality,  cclui  dont  il 
cache  aujburd’hui  ses  traits  se  nomine 
Liberty  ct  Dymocratie.  Il  fait  la 
guerre,  dil-il,  contre  le  gouverne- 
meat,  non  contre  le  peuple,  il  veut 
dybarrasser  celui-ci  des  lyrans  qui 
1’oppriment,  il  veut  Jui  rendre  enfm 
le  droit.de  dycider  lui-rndme  de  ses 
propres  deslinAes.  Que  tout  cela 
serai t  bean,  si  1’on  pouvait  y  croire  ! 
Mais  si  quelqu’un,  aprAs  avoir  fourni 
pendant  des  annyes  k  mes  ennemis 
les  moyens  de  mo  tuer,  apr£s  avoir 
yty  la  cause  de  la  mort  de  mes 
frires  et  de  mes  parents,  s’approche 
sournoisement  de  moi  en  me  disant 
ne  vouloir  que  men  bien,  j’ai  bien  le 
droit,  ce  me  semble,  de  lui  rire  a'u 
nez.  Le  cadeau  dont  il  essiye  de 
gratificr  le  peuple  allcmand  ne 
paralt  gutme  ytre  du  godt  de  celui-ci. 
et  si  parfois  quelques-uns ,  parmi  oe. 
peuple  pouvaient  ytre  tentya 
d’examirier  de  prfea  les  belles  choses 
avee  lesquclles  on  a’efforce  de 
l’amadouer.  sans  doute  pour  ytre  k 
myme  de  I’ygorger  ensuite  plus  k 
1’aise,  ils  reculeront,  Je  ryspAre,  au 
bon  moment  ‘en  se  remymoront  ce 
vers  d’un  po6te  encore^  plus  ancien 
que  Chateaubriand  : 


BULLETINS  OFFiCIELS 
ALLEMANOS 

0.  Q.  G.,  Ir  .'0  4cpt«,rnl*i »*  1917 

ThyAlre  li  qubito  4  I’Guvsl 
Grou|)9  U'.ircuCfs  du  Knuipriiu  IIijjijh *  rbl 
A  la  cole  d«‘  Maudre,  entre  la  f>»iCl  de 
Houthoulsl  el  la  Lys,  la  force  d*  I'ocUvi- 
16  cornLuihvc  dos  urlillern'i  fcl  than* 
geanle.  Aprcs  un  vignurcux  feu  roulunl 
dans  la  >oir6c,  4  l  E.-<l  d  Ypres,  il  y  eul 
prCs  do  Mnllebekc  fceulemenl  des  alia- 
quos  pai  Utiles  unglaiscs ,  furent 

repuusstM. 

A  la  route  d  Ypres  4  PascUcudale  1  en- 
nemi  fut  culbuW  hors  de  U  tig.'te  des  c'n- 
tonnuirs  qu'il  occupait  encore  en  cet  eQ- 
droit. 

Sur  le  terrain  d'.uundalion  de  1  Yser 
ooa  dclaiieuni  r&ra«.-n6reat  des  pnsonniera 
lors  de  lencoDtres  aveq  des  beiges. 

Gruupe  d  uioiccs  du  Krunpruu  uilvinand. 

Au  Nord-E?t  dc  SoiSooiu  et  devanl 
Vtidun,  le  feu  s’lnlcrr  con&ideiable- 
ment  par  moments ,  pendant  la  nait,  il 
®e  mamtirit  6galctn«rnL  vigomeux  4  la 
Meuse.  IduSleurs  combats  d'a. ant-Lgoe, 

A  1' occasion  desqu.-ls  no^  troupes  d'as- 
snut  uln-igiurent  les  positions  tranfaises, 
eurent  plcm  succAs. 

Croupe  d'armees  du  doc  Albrecht. 

Pr4s  do  Bisel,  dans  1c  Stindgau,  quel- 
ques  pusonniers  restirent  outre  uos 
rnams  lors  d  une  poussie  francaise. 

Londres  et  plusieurs  loculi  ids  4  la  cbte 
6ud  englaise  furent  attaquoes  par  nos 
aviateurs. 

IbiAlre  de  la  guerre  a  i'Esl. 

Front  da  Prince  Leopold  de  Bavl6re. 
L’activity  combplive  qui  ne  fut'gen6rale- 
incrit  que  minuue  s'mtcnsifia  passagCrc- 
merit  sculcment  lors  tf**>otreprises  de  re- 
oonDaiPsance  au  Nonfl  u*  la  Dwina,  4 
I'Ouest  de  Luck,  ct  au  Zbrucz. 

Front  du  (cldmar6chaJ  von  MacKenscu. 
Dea  dytachements  russca  qui  avaient 

S'*nua-»  nfcs 

de  Somt-Georgcs  du  Dunubo  furent  de 
noaveau  chassis  par  des  contre-pous- 
•6es  rapi  do  merit  e.vicul6cs. 

Front  de  M. - ^lne. 

Aucune  ocUon  combnrTte  'd'imporlance. 

G.  Q  G  ,  li  31  scplombre  1917. 
TbCAlre  de  la  guetre  4  1'Ouesi. 

Par  un  temps  brumeux  i'acliviiy  de  com¬ 
bat  resta  plus  faible  que  les  jours  pr«5cy- 
dents  sur  le  front  dc  toutes  les  armCes. 

En  Flundre  le  combat  d'arlillerie  f  .t  vif 
k  la  cOte  ol,  le  soir,  de  1'Yser  jusqu’uu  ca- 
nol  de  Coin ines-Y pres.  Des  dytuchements 
do  i etonnaissbnoe  cnglais  qui  a'avanc6- 
rent  en  plusrours  endroits  furent  repous- 
sCs. 

Devant  Verdun  l'activitfi  combative  resta 
mijume,  4  part  un  leu  passag6rement  rea- 
forcC. 

Nos  aviateurs  ont  de  nouveau  attaqud 
les  docks  et  lea  enliopota  de  Londres, 
Ramsgate,  Sheerness  et  Murgate.  Dca  m* 


i.jlcurs  ennemis  ont  £1*  nballus 


i,  It 
J IH*r 

•  Le  li.  ot.mnl  Gonfcrmonn  remporl*  aa 
47*  ^1  ».i  38*.  Ic  pr»*nuer-lii*ijlenant  Bor* 
yioUi  s  i  IT  \uloire  aynenne. 

Ibrdirr  de  la  guorre  A  I’fCst 

..  L«  situation  c*l  sans  chungomrnt.  Des 
•unit  uta  flinftmlehe  localisys  provoqu6- 
i|jns  quelquos  aerU'urs  un  nccroisse- 
blent  pnssnger  du  feu*- 

4  Front  de  Macedoine. 

Pc^  d  i’vyntfirjenls  osseuliels. 


•  Quidquid  id  est,  timeo  Danaos  et 
iona  lerentes  a. 

Les  scrupules  qui  e^npychenl  M. 
^  ilson  de  traiter  avec  le  gouverne- 
ment  allemand  lui  sont  venus  un  peu 
tard,  car  II  est  resty  'assez  longtemps 
en  relations  avec  cc  mCme  gouvernc- 
ment,  auquel  il  ne  trouvait  alors  rien 
k  reprocher.  Que  dirait-il,  si  ses 
adversaires  lui  ripostaient  -Ja  Nous 
ne  voulons  pas  avoir  affaire  k  des 
gouvernements  qui,  comma  le  v6lre, 
portent  un  masque,  qui,  coninie 
fcclui  de  la  Grande-Lretagnc,  se  sont 
toujours  signals  par  leur  duplicity, 
qui,  comme  ceux  d’ltalie  et  dc 
Roumanle,  ont  viold  les  tPaitys  qui 
les  engagcaient  d'honneur,  qui,  comm© 
celui  de  Serbic,  ont  plusicurs  aseas- 
sinats  aur  la  consciences? 

Framjais,  mes-1  fpbres,  relisez  vos 
vicux  auteurs,  et  vous  Jugerez  plus 
sainament.  Vn  Ftancals. 


des  bombes.  Teqs  les  aviona  lont  renlrds 
in  damn  es. 

Thy&tr©  d«  la  guerre  4  I'EsL 

Aueune  grande  aeti»n  de  earnbaL 
From  de  MaeiJdeinc. 

Entre  le  lac  d'Oehrida  et  la  Cerna  le 
feu  fut  plus  actif  qu‘4  J ‘ordinaire. 

G.  0-  G.,  l«  1*'  otiobre  1S17. 

Thefttre  de  la  guerre  4  I'Ouest. 
Croupe  d'arniee^du  Krenprlnz  Ruppreeht 
■  En  Flandre  la  lutt©  d'artiilerie  fut  viye, 
4  partir  de  midi,  4  la  cdl#  et  data  la  boi> 
de  d'Ypres.  EUe  r#sla  vive  6gnlemeat  pea- 
dant  la  null. 

Les  aviateurs  anglais  et  froa^ais  ont 
causd  dans  cee  dernier©  temps  d'impbr- 
tants  d4g4Ls  mat6riels  par  leura  bombee 
Uncies  eur  le  territoire  beige.  Cos  atta- 
ques  firent  de  nombreuses  victimea  daas 
1a  population  civile. 

Group©  d'armCcs  du  Kroaprlnz  allcaiand. 

Le  long  de  I'AJsne,  au  Nord-Est  de 
Reims  et  en  Champagne,  1*  bombarde- 
ment  a  repris,  eftrtout  en  liaison  avee  dea 
escaxmouchcs  de  reconnaissance,  qui  nous 
rapportfrer.t  des  prisonniers. 

Devant  Verdun,  la  lutle  d'nrtillerie  a'eal 
maintenue  dans  des  hmilas  mod6r6es. 

Nos  aviateurs'  hmcCrcnt  de  uouvaau  des‘ 
bembes  iur  des  6<Uficea  militoires  et  des 
entrepots  au  centre  de  Londres.  De  jaom* 
br«ujc  tncendies  t6m«ign6reut  de  I'elfica- 
cit6  particuli6re  de  cette  atlaquo.  D'autres 
avions  attaqu4rem  avec  mice 4s  Margate 
•4  Douvres.  Tmn  a©s  avioau  sant  rentr4a 
t&demnes. 


BULLETINS  OFFICIELS 
FRANCAIS 

Fans,  *24  eci/U'iubre  1&17,  #oir.  v 
*  Sur  le  front  de  I'AJsne.  la  lulle  d  arlillerie 
iVesi  jSoui  suiv.c  Irts  vive  dans  region  tirayc* 
rtjeruy  ll.;urtcbisc  Nous  avona  repouss©  un 
•toup  de  uioin  sur  nos  prills  posies  au  Nurd 
Tie  buy,  .  li-Laonnois.  Sur  la  nvu  diode  do 
it)  Meuse,  6  la  suiio  du  boaibaidcniriil  si- 
•Ja’alc  dans  is  communique  de  cc  malm,  Ic-s 
,  >AJlCn«uiid>  uni  atlaqu©  noa  Iranchees  au  .’Voi  d 
Hu  l>'*:a  Ln-Ciiauuic  sur  uiio  etcoduc  do  doux 
,  4*Io:joi;  es  environ.  McnCe  pur  qua  ire  Luiail- 
ilODS,  sppuyeo  par  dc#  troupe#  specu.es  d  as- 
*oul,  1  antique  a  Cle  desoi  g.inirco  par  nos 
Keux  ct  u  tic  iQipuiaS-iidc  .4  #UurUcr  nos  i-gnes 
^ur  la  plus  giandu  parlie  du  front  ulUquC. 
pans  quclque#  elCiccnls  do  tranchecs  aw 
iftenUu,  ou  Icnncim  avail  rCassi  a  prendre 
rpied,  un  violent  combat,  s’est  engagd  qui 
^I’esl  tvruinu  a  aolrc  avaniage.  Nos  soldata 
*>P'Ci  avoir  uilligu  do  Tories  pertea  4  lad /or-  ' 
sont  restes  aiaiLrcs  dc  leurs  posilins. 
mBsic  moment,  deux  atlaques  scconduires, 
4>rononccos,  Tune  au’Nord  de  Bczouvauj, 
4auUo  au  Sud-Est  de  Deaumont,  subissaicnt 
rbgaletiicnt  un  sauglanl  echec  grace  4  la 
ih'adluiice  de  nos  troupes,  qui  sonant  de  leurs 
grant  lie  os,  so  sont  purities  avec  lougue  au- 
[levant  dc  l'a^saillant.  Au  cours  dc  I'apres- 
ipudi,  doux  nouvelles  tcolalives  exdculees  aur 
Oes  iraucUces  du  buis  Le-Cli4ume  n  om  reussi 
Aju'a  a'ugiucntcr  lc  cbilfre  des  perles  subies 
rpar  I  cnncmi  sans  lui  valoir  to  momdre  resul- 
ml.  Noua  uvoos  tail  une  cinquaniame  dc  pn- 
.iwnriicrs  au  cours  V.o  cetlc  action. 

Paris,  25  fZbfpQ&rc  1917,  2  houres. 
Activity  dea  deux  artilJ^riea  eur  le  from  de 
Ji'Aisiie,  dans  les  scctcure  d  Hcurlebiso  et  au 
Sud  dc  Juviucourl.  Noua  avona  arrClft  des 
«oups  dc  mum  sur  ays  po.slos  avancCa  4 
•/tsl.^kl  XolO.u  ©L.flU_Nu'7i  du  la  £ole  304.  Sur 
la  nve  droits  do  la  Mouse*  Tenncini'a  pouf^ 
•uivi  le  bornbai  dement  do  la  region  au  Nord 
du  buia  Lc-Chaume  et  reuouvcl©  aes  tenta- 
^lives  sur  nos  iranehecs  vers  Beaumont.  Mal- 
Sr-  un  emploi  imcnsii  do  lancc-dammes,  U  a 
ete  repousse  avec  dc  lourdca  pertea  sans  oble- 
nu-  aucun  avantagc../iwnns  lea  Vosges,  ren- 
coaUes  da  palroudiea. 

La  guerre  airicane  :  Trois  avions  allcmanda 
ont  ei«  abutlus  d^ns  la  journee  d  hier  p^r' 
bos  pilules 

Paris,  25  scplcmbro  1917,  soir. 

La  luUa  d'arullono  so  mamlieul  ir6s  vivo 
dans  its  regions^  d  llcurtebisa  el  de  Ciaunno 
et  sur  la  rive  dro/te  do  la  Meuse,  dans  lo  sec- 
tcur  du  bois  Le-Chaumc.  Aucuuc  acLioo  d'm- 
Unleiic.  Kicn  4  signaler  sur  le  rcstc  du  front. 

La  (jueirc  airicnne  :  Nos  avions  onl  tlfcclud 
divorscs  oporationa  de  boinbardvmonl  dans  la 
jouruce  du  24  scplcinbre  et  dans  la  null  du 
24  au  25.  Dix  mills  kilos  dc  projectiles  onl  M6 
jclcs  au  cours  do  ces  expeditions,  nolammenl 
sor  les  gates  do  Ca.ubiai,  Luxembourg.  Lon- 
guyon,  br/euiles,  etc.  PJusicura  inccndics  onl 
6clut6  duns'  les  bailments  bombardes. 

Paris,  26  scplcmbro  1917,  2  heures. 

Sui-  lo  front  de  I’Atshe,  actions  d'artillerio 
courlcs  et  Viulcntq*  dans  la  secleur  d'Heur- 
Vebiso-Craonnc.  La  coup  de  eaaia  ennemi  sur 


A  ^  .  .  ,  ,  ,.  ...  ...  ,4»s  pci.ts  posies  au  N'ord  de  Joay  a  ©choue. 

cendns  pcniurent  dc  ccnctctor  1  elticccuc-j  Oo  ,olre  wle.  n„  dCueUemcm.  onl  cxocuic 


avec  sucebs  doux  incursions,  aur  la  lrgna  alio- 
aando  au  Sud  da  Corny,  au  Nord-Ouest  da 
Befaioiieourl  et  en  Champagne  .vers  Tahure. 
Naus  avuns  ramen©  une  dualno  da  prison- 
mers.  Sur  la  rive  droilo  de  la  Meuse,  la  lull© 
d  aitiUoric  se  peursuil  mloirse  entra  Beaumant 
at  Uczoiivuu*.  II  aa  caullrme,  d’apres  1'intcr- 
royateue  dea  prisandicra,  que  lea  altaquca 
inlruclucuses  dirrgeea  par  les  Alleaands  aur 
aoa  positions  au  Nurd  du  bois  Le-Chaurac, 
pendaut  la  journeo  du  24,  leur  onl  vaiu  des 
pci  les  elcvCes.  En  autre,  lc  chiffre  des  pri- 
•anniers  qu'its  onl  luisscs  entre  nos  mams  ce 
jour-14  s'cievo  4  121  dont  4  ©Ifreiert.  Nuit 
cabno  partout  ailieurs. 

Paris,  20  seprtmbre  1917,  aair. 

Aetivitd  marquee  dea  daux  arldlerioa  e4 
quelques  points  du  front  da  l'Arsne  el  aur  la 
rlva  drade  de  la  Metre  a.  Noa  batteries  aat  pria 
■oua  leur  feu  el  dixpcreO  dea  rasscmblemenla 
annenia  au  Nord  da  Beaumont.  Rien  4  »i- 
gnaler  sur  la  reeto  du  (rout.  Dans  la  joiirnCa 
du  25  aeplenbre,  deux  avion#  allemands  ont 
6t6  abatlus  4  ia  suits  da  combats,  et  doux 
aulres  gravetaenl  endamruages.  Lee  gares  da 
Roulers,  da  Lithlervelde,  ca  Belgique,  tea 
canloaacmcrHs  de  Narmltais.  las'  g are#  da 
Bneulles,  da  Molx-Waippy,  etc.,  oat  414  co- 
pieusemenl  arros©s  de  projcctitoa  par  noa 
aecadrilJes. 

Paris,  27  sOplembre  1917,  2  beurea.  , 

8ur  la  front  do  l'Aisne,  l*-a  Ailomands  ont 
taamfeste,  dans  la  sovrea  d'bier  el  au  coura. 
do  la  nuit,  uno  parUcuhere  aclivite.  Apr4s  un" 
violent  boaihardrniem  do-  nos  posiliuna,  do- 
puu  les  Vaui  Morons  jusqu  i  I'Ouest  de  Cer- 
ny,  1‘enncmi  a  attaquA  au  Sud  do  t'Arbro  da 
Carny,  mais  il  ©.do,  sous  dos  feux.  regagner 
•es  bgnes,  non  aana  avoir  aubl  da  iourdoa 
perles.  Uno  wconde  atlaque,  dCclanchCo  ce 
taalin  4  laube,  enlra  lo  pialoau  das  Casemates 
el  Je  plateau  do  CatUomic,  a  ets  ©galcmeot 
repsussCei  Una  opCraUon  da  detail  ebectuaa 
par  buus  4  I'Ouest  da  la  feroia'  Fro-dmont, 
Bous  a  pertrus  da  ramcner  des*  pryanoiors. 

D»ux  coups  de  main  ennemis,  l*un  sur  la 
rive  draita  de  la  Meuse,  dans  la  region  da 
bcuumaat,  Pqulra  am  Alsace,  dans  U  region 
do  Luigej  onl  complMejment  6ob»u6.  Rien  5 
aignalar  sur  la  rcsto  du  front. 


BULLETINS  OFFICIELS 
ANGLAIS 

Loudrei,  ?4  acpN’inbrc,  apiba-ioidi  et  sou*. 
Un  deluchvrni'fit  ennemi  qui  avail  rluasi  4 
p4n©lr er  dana  noa  Uam.h6i'f.,  Is  oml  di-rinbre, 
vers  l.a  Uaaae  ViUe.  a  ele  rrjel©  avec  peitea 
4  la  suite  d  une  courle  Julie,  queiquea-una  de 
nos  buuimcs  onl  disparu.  Acbvite  do  I  amllerie 
allrmande,  ce  nutm,  aur  lea  drux  nvrs  dc  la 
Scarpe  et,  cello  null,  au  Sud  dc  Lens  cl  au 
Nord  Est  d'Yprra. 

Leonean  a  teal©  ra  malm,  5  la  prcnuCre 
beurc,  A  la  favi  ur  du  boinbardemenl  signal© 
dan#  le  cnmuminqu©  dr.  ce  malm,  deux  coups 
do  main'vcra  Monc.'iy-lc-Prrux  el  un  (roiMc-rna 
au  Sud  de  la  voie  lerrto  Arraa-Combrai.  Lea 
trois  tcnlalivc#  ont  ©choud  aous  no  ire  feu.  Le# 
aasaillnnls  onl  un  certain  nornbra  de 

moita  dev.inl  ni-a  ligne#  L'nc  tentative  ana¬ 
logue  a  et.-  faite  ce  mal:n  aur  nos  UsnchCea 
4  10m* s*  dc  La  B»si»6e-  Un  dc  003  homme* 

4  disparu.  Lc  rcne^igncmcni  dc  ce  uulm  an- 
non^anl  un  certain  uombm  dc  dispurus  4  la 
suite  d  un  r aid  ciL'crnaarj  effectu©  la  Olid  der- 
niere  pro*  de  ba#6c-VUIe  a  ©1©  reconnu 
inexact.  Aucun  de  noa  homoies  n  a  -et©  porte 
manquant  4  Is  suite  da  cede  ojJcraiiau  Nos 
palroudlcs  ae  font  montrees  actives  au  cours 
de  Is  journee  6ur  lo  front  de  bawfille.  Llfes 
ont  ramrno  un  certain  nenubre  de  prisonmcra. 
Cor.lmualion  de  laclivd©  de  outre  arlillerie. 
Aucune  action  d  infanlcrio.  Hier,  ica  operauona 
aeriennea  out  de  nouveau  aubi  un  rak-aiisse- 
mrnl,  bien  quo  nos  aeroplanes  et  ballons 
d  arlillerie  aicnt  continue  leura  operations.  Au 
cours  d  un  certain  nombre  du  bombai  demeula 
executes  avec  succ©s,  nos  pdolcs  oat  en  outre 
jete  cent  Boixanle-aepl  bombes  sur  des  can- 
tonncincnls,  baraquemenis  et  champ©  d  avia¬ 
tion  enneniis.  Hun  appareila  aliema'ida  out  et© 
abatlus  en  comb. da  aciieus  el  6ix  autrea  con- - 
tramts  d'allcrnr  desc-mparc*. 

Londres,  25  atplunbre  1917,  apr©s-midi. 

Un  coup  dc  man:  ex6cui©-'avcc  succes,  la 
nud  dermerr, ‘a  |  Est  d'Ep©hy,  nous  a  permis 
de  ^aire  un  ccrlain  numbre  de  prisonniers. 
L'enncmi,  qui  tcidait  d'eiilever  un  de  uoa 
posies  a-mic6s  ou  Nord-Oucst  dc  Lena,  a  ©t© 
rejet©  4  la  suite  dun  coinbat  4  la  grenade. 
Activit©  de  rarliileric  abemande  au  Nord  et 
a  I'Est  d'Ypres. 

Grace  a  un  cj  ais  broudJard,  1  cnncmi  a  Jan- 
ci,  au  peld  jour,  une  forte  conlrc-atlaquo  sur 
no9  posiUons  de  la  hauteur,  a  l  Esl  d'Ypres, 
entre  Tovvcr-Uamlcl  et  te  buia  du  Polygone. 
Sur  la  plus  grande  ©lendue  de  co  front,  les 
Allemands  out  «il6  repouss6e,  maja  en  deux 
points,  au  Nord  de  la  route  d'Yprcs-Mcnin  et 
au  Sud  du  bois  du  Polygone,  iis  ont  reussi, 
sur  une  elroilu  partie  de  la  iigne,  A  penctrer 
dans  noa  trnncliees,  Lc  combat  a  ©t©  violent 
toute  la  mutinhe  cl,  A  midi,  l'enncmi  a  dc- 
^clanch©  une  nouvelio  ct  puissante  conlrc-al- 
"Taquc.  Mais  eli  tttfUl  do  leurs  cttorls,  -  lo*  Alio  f 
mauds  n'onl  pas  reussi  4  progre-sser,  et  su 
debut  dc  rapi©s-imdi,  nos  contic-allaqucs  lea 
ont  rejelea  dea  Iranehecs  qu'ils  avaient 
r©ussi  a  occupcr.  Notro  front  altaquc  est 
mamtcnanl  retabti  sur  toute  sa  longueur.  A 
la  suite  d  un  coup  do  main  allcmand  fait  ce 
matin  au  sud  de  QuAant,  deux  do  nos  hom- 
mes  ont  disparu.  Grande  activit©  d'arlillerie 
de  part  el  dau'ic  pendant  toute  la  journeo 
4  lest  d'Ypres.  llier,  maigr©  un  epaig 
brouillard  qui,  toute  la  journAe,  s'est 
©lendu'  au-dcssus  de  nos  lignes,  nos  pdolcs* 
out  monlr©  une  grande  aclivite.  Nos  avions 
d  artdlcric  out  continu©  leurs  observations 
et  onl  pris  de  norubroux  cJichCs  des  zones 
orriArc  cl  avanl  enncmics.  Qualrc  tonnes  de 
projectiles  onl  ©1©  jetcee  dana  la  journee 
sur  les  aerodromes  allemands  au  Nord  ct  au 
aud  de  Roulers  et  prea  de  Cambrai,  #ur  un 
nceud  de  chorains  de  fer  4  lest  do  Tournai 
el  aur  lc6  car.lonnements  ct  baraflucmcnls 
aiiluur  de  Lens  el  do  Roulers.  Pendant  la 
nuit,  hn  depot  de  munitions  au  nord  de 
Cambrai  el  des  cantonuemcnls  dc  repos  4 
1  est  do  Lens  onl  ©t©  buinbard©s  par  nos 
aviateurs.  Troia  appareds  ennemis  onl  ©l© 
abatlus  en  combats  acnens  et  cinq  autres 
contraints  d'attorrtr  dcscmparAs.  Le  pdole  dy 
l  un  dea  appareds  aballua  le  23  est  le  lieute¬ 
nant  Voss,  qui  eat  cite  dana  les  communiques 
aUemanda  coinme  ayant  aballu  mamis  avions 
alii©*.  Qualre  dea  nOlres  ne  aonl  paa  renlr©s. 
Londres,  26  sepL  1917,  apr©s-midi  et  soir.  . 

A  8  he  arcs  50,  nous  avona  attaqu©  aur  un 
large  front,  dans  le  accleur  de  bataiUa  4  leal 
ol  au  nord-est  d'Ypres.  Les  rapports  aignalenl 
une  avanco  tr©s  salisfaisante.  Un  coup  de 
main  a  ©t4  effectue,  1©  nuit  dermfere,  4  l'e6t 
de  Gouzcaucourt,  par  dea  troupe*  do 
Suffolk,  qui  onl  rencontre  une  vigoureu,se 
resistance.  Deux  abris  occupds  ont  416 
deirurta  et  de  nombreux  ennemis  out  ©t©,  en 
outre,  tu©s  4  la  baiounetlc.  Nous  avons 
romcn©  des  prisonnicra  ot  une  mitrailleuse. 

Notro  allaque  do  ce  matin  s'est  dcveloppec 
siir  un  front  d'environ  neuf  kilomblrea  cuiq 
cents,  du  aud  de  Tower-Hamlelh  4  l  eal  de 
Saint-Juben.  Elle  a  enli©remcnl  r©ussi.  Dans 
le  ceurant  do  la  journee,  lennerm  a  lane© 
contre  noire  nouveau  front  de  puissanlcs 
contre-alUques.  Dc  violent*  combats  so 
poursulvent  eneoro  #ur  divers  points.  Au  sud 
de  la  route  d'Ypres  4  Vtma,  aotro  allaque 
nous  a-  perm  is  d'adtever  \s  conqubto  do 


baladion*  anglais,  t  co»*m#  et  gallon 
pen.-ir©r*nl,  sur  environ  1600  nitre*  *n 
profondeu/.  dans  Ica  div<*r>ra  lign<aa  aJJo- 
oiandca,  prenant  das^aut  Zonnrbckc',  ot 
aticignircnt  tous  leurs  objcctifs.  Doo® 
1' a  pres  rmdi,  une  comre-attaque  sur  oo$ 
nuuvrllcs  poidions,  4  l>«|  du  Polygone,  0 
©to  rejrlie.  A  is  gsuche  de  noire  qtinqu©,  les 
truupr#  territorisles  du  -Nord-MidJnnd  et  do 
Londres  ont  attaqu©  Je  part  et  d  uutro  de 
Wirleja  4  Grave uotafco  el  de  Saint-Juben  4 
Gravensinfoxi,  4ticmt  leurs  objcctifs  et 
rrpousoc  une  contre-  attaque.  Dan©  co 
scclcur,  notre  1‘grie  a  ©1©  avaric©r  de  2400 
metres  en  terrain  defendu  par  de  noinbreuseo 
feruies  for(lfi©cs  et  redoulca.  b©tuau6c©.  Au 
debut  de  1  jpres-ruidi,  I'ennenu  0  eonlre* 
attaqu©  uno  4cuxt©me  foi®  dans  cette  region 
en  forces  plus  considerables  el  0  r©us$i  4 
refouler  iCgercmcitl  none  ligne  sur  un  iron! 
©irott.  Une  comre-atuquu  mimediuto  noua  a 
peruns  de  rcprciidie  I#  majeure  partie  du 
terrain  perdu.  Plus  do  mille  prisoniueis  ont 
ete  fails  au  cours  de  ccs  operations.  Un  ir©§ 
grand  nombre  de  cadavrcs  altcoisud#  onl  ©(© 
trouvC®  sui'  le  terrain  conquis  par  noe 
troupes,  et  les  perles  ailcaiandes,  au  coure 
de  oolro  attaque  et  des  conlic  aitaquce 
enncmles.  onl  ©t©  61ev©c#.  Notre  aviation  © 
monlr©,  bier,  une  tr©si  gr^n^e  act  vil©,  n«- 
cutant  du  travail  d'arlillerie,  des  «peril<oiia 
ile  bombardcuicnt  et  de  photographic  daiu 
lea  zones  a  vatu  ct  au-dessua  drs  aciodio^r# 
ennenus.  No*  pdolcs  ont-  Lombard©  avec 
•ucccs,  au  coura  d<  la  journee,  un  c amp 
d  aviation  et  dea  vote*  de  gaiagc  pi©»  dea 
campar  ou  ds  obi  piovoquc  un  gios  niccndic, 
des  a©rodroutc#  pr©s  de  Gnurlrai  ei  do 
Cambrai,  des  canlou|icuicnU  Jt  1'cYt  dc  Leo# 
el  des  haruquements  au  -  aud- iln-st  do 

Roulers.  Cinq  todnea  d'exfdosifs  <>nt  el© 
jelbes  ©u.  cours  de  ces  operations.  Cinq 
auires  lonnes  dc  'prtqVqRlos  ont  ©1©  jCu)©6  et 
pluaieur*-  tuiilicrs  do  coups  lir©a  par  no* 
rnilrailleuscs  au  cours  d*-  la  suit  ®ur  Mcmn 
et  VVervicq  cl  dea  formations  el  convo.a 
ennemis  err  mouvcmcrH  aur  dc*  route* 
conduisant  de  ce*  vilfc*  au  front  de  bataifle. 

Au  cours  des  oonibrethQ-  combats  de  la 
journee  dhier,  un  noinbre  ■parliciLmroment 
©lev©  d'appaitila  alleroaiMi*-  a  ©l©  dClruit. 
Dix-sept  aeroplanes  eirat-au©7onl  ©1©  abattua 
et  stY  autres  contraints  d'auamn-  desempares. 

Un  appared  triplaco  do  bombardemem  a  et©, 
en  outre  abattu,  la  ifbit  derm©rcL  par  noa 
canoaa  apAciaux.  Un  dea .  notres  n  eat  pas 
rent r©. 


de  ccs  pentes  et  qui  consliluait  noire  objectif. 
Une  forte  conlrc-oUoque,  venanl  do  la 
diroclion  da  Ghcluvolt  4  ©i©  repous«6c.  A  la 
droit*  do  notre  attaque  principslc,  au  nord 
de  la  route  d'Ypres  4  Mcmn,  noa  troupes 
ont  renconlr©  une  rdsislanto  acharnCe.  L)e 
violent#  combats  ae  aont  deroutes  dana  la 
region  ob  lonnemi  a  eonLre-altaqu©  bier.  Le 
lutle  ••  poursuivil'aveq  violence  pendant  la 
majeuro  partie  de  la  journee.  Lee  batadlonr 
©nglaie  el  ©co*sais  ont  finalcmcnt  chass© 
lennomi  de  see  poaitiooa  et  exCcul©  leur 
mission,  qui  coneiatail  4  couvrir  lo  03nc  de 
noire  ©ttoque  priDcipolo.  Au  coure  de  leur 
avance.  nos  troupes  out  d©livr©  deux 
corapagnie#  de  bighlandcra  d  Argyll  et  de 
Sutherland,  qui  avaient  tenu  toute  la  null 
avec  lo  plut  grand  courage  dana  uile 
posilio©  avanc4e  ob  ellea  ©laient  rcst©ca 
isolAea  4  la  audo  d©  l  attaque  ©Hernando  d  hier 
malin.  Dana  le  coorant  do  I'aprfcs-midi, 
I'enncaai  •  lanc4,  dans  ce  aecteur  une 
B&uvoUo  corUre-altaqun  ta  forces  conaid©- 
rablc*.  La  lutt*  ae  pourauil  avec  acharue* 
©icnl.  Plqo  a  14  aord,  lea  Aostrelicn®  ont 
en.ov©  U  rcale  du  »  du  Polygon#,  *1  »* 
Sfnl  eflipar©*  du  ayoicune  da  UanchAea  alle- 
inaiidus  4  1  eoi  do  c»  bois,  qui  furmaiont  lo* 
•bjcckfs  jlo  1©  joirn©#.  A  leur  gauche,  le* 


FRANCS  ET  ANGLETERRE 

Quelques  exlraits  cueillis  duos  un  ou- 
vrage  intCresaunt  du  Commandant  Gran- 
din,  laur6at  de  1  Instil ut  de  France,  dcs- 
stlleront  bien  des  yeux. 

L'ouvrage  s'intilule  :  «  Missionnaires  et 
Gxplorateurs  u.  L  airWar.,  mi- 

nuUeusemeut  les  efforts  fails  pour  as- 
seoir  la  domination  frani;«ise  dans  la  par- 
tie  septentrionale  de  l’Afrique.  11  ecrit : 

»  Les  miostonnaires  ouglais  n'6tunt  tjue 
«  des  meicuntis  plus  suucieux  de  vendre 
11  leurs  liqueurs  /relates  que  de  s'occu- 
«  per  d  art  et  d'induslrte,  il  aj.partenait 
«  6  nos  90ldats  de  prouver  au  gouverne- 
<1  ment  de  la  perflde  Albion  que  la  France 
<«  aussi  avail  dee  droits  b  faire  pnivaloir 
«  et  qu'elle  entenduit  ne  pas  -lotsser  sa 
•1  rivale  setablir  seule  dans  des  parages 
“  que  Napolbon  I*r  avait  convoitds  jadis, 
m  au  temps  de  sa  splendeur. ..  »  * 

Plus  loin  : 

«Au  nord  comme  au  centre  du  conti¬ 
nent  africain,  l’Angleterre  est  den'e  biefr 
I’ennetnie  du  nom  frungnis.  Les  Anglais  I 
Nous  les  coonaissons  pour  les  avoh  vus 
A  l'ceuvre  en  Cnm6e,  en  Syrie  et  en 
Chine  1...  Des  trois  puissances  uigag6ea 
dans  la  question  d’Orient,  en  1854,  l  An- 
glcterre  a  616  la  seule  qui  ait  prom©  de 
la  guerre  de  CrimCe  1  Elle  deniandait  la 
liberty  de  la  navigation  dans  la  Mer 
Noire.  Le  truity  Je  Haris  de  mar*  li>56 
lui  accorda  ce  droit  et  aujuurd  liui,  la 
Frapce  se  trouve  reduite  b  une  ubsicnlion 
presque  absolue  dans  les  affuires  extb- 
rieures  qui  ne  touchent  pas  directement 
b  son  honneur  national.  En  Syrie,  e’est 
i'ambassadeur  anglais  qui,  par  ses  ruse* 
©t  flnasseries  de  diplomate  rctors,  diiigea 
la  politique  du  plvinipotentiaire  de  la 
Subbme-Porte,  Fuad  Pacha  ;  il  dicta  b  ce 
dernier  les  operations  auxquellc.t  fl  devail 
pariiciper  dans  le  Liban  pour  que  les 
Druses  puursuivts  et  menaebs  par  nous 
puissent  passer  entre  nos  lignes  c|  sc  r6- 
fngicr  dans  lc  Hauran,  pbtd  de  ir.onlagiu*9 
inaborduLlea  a  nos  troupes...  Ce  fut 
aussi  grbee  it  l'Angletorre  que  le  general 
dc  Beaufort  d'Uaulpoul  n'osa  pas  p6n6lrer 
dans  Damns,  In  cupilale  du  funatlsme 
musulman,  ce  qui  fit  que  noire  mlervcn-' 
lion  en  Sync  d6g6n6ra  en  une  campagne 
brdlanlc  ct  coateusbl  En  Chine,  les  An-4 
glais  profilant  de  notre  loyaut6  chevalo- 
reaqua  se  taillbro^ia  port  du  lion  en  t>e 


raperon  de  Towcr-Uamlcth  ,ot  de  noua  faisant  dOlivrer  par  les*  Chinois"b  notro 
omparer  d  uno  solid*  organisation  dCfensivo  .  . .  .  .  uuunuis,  a  notre 


insu,  el  J.ar  convention  spotfale,  Irenle 
lieucs  de  cdles  en  (ace  de  rile  de  Hong. 
Kong. 

H  Ne  vous  inljuiclez  pas  —  Gcrivmt 
Lord  Elgin  au  Prince  Kong  —  domlej 
sux  Frmnuis  toutes  les  satisfactions  mo- 
rules  quils  vous  demondent...  Nous  en 
faisons  noire  aftaire...  11s  no  sonl  quo 
des  increenuires  a  la  soldo  do  i'Anulo- 
lerr.n  I » 

u  El  lc  vieux  general  Cousin-Monlauban 
do  s'Ccricr,  lors  lc  son  depart  de  Chine : 
•iJ'cn  ai  asscz  de  ces  Angluis  ;  its  synl 
orgueilleuv  comme  des  paons.  ..  LMnfllo- 
lerro  n'n  lainnis  etc  torle  quo  par  la  (al- 
blesse,  la  pusillanimity,  I'inepiie  de  nos 
Qouvcrnaiits. » 

« Et  le  hvre  be  termine  ainsi ;  « Qu® 
Messieurs  les  Anglais  le  snehent  .done  I 
La  marine  d'nujourd’hui,  e’est  moins  le 
cuirass©  dont  le  type  se  trunslorme  saaa 
ccese  que  le  Personnel...  » 

Et  Ton  songe,  malgr6  soi,  4  1©  victoir® 
©Uemand®  du  Skager  Rak  ! 

Et  Ion  songe  aux  vnillunt*  6quipag*e© 
ue*  tous-marin*  v©inque.ur*l 


A  PAGE  FROM  THE  GERMAN  PAPER  PUBLISHED  IN  THE  FRENCH  LANGUAGE  FOR  DISTRIBUTION  AMONG  THE  FRENCH 

(Note  the  contemptuous  article  “By  e  Frenchman”  on  President  Wilson.) 


GAZETTE  DES  ARDENNES  ■>  EDITION  ILLUSTRfiK 


7 


No  58 


OVQM'.'Vt* 


njoH'Vt*w> 


ar  Ni 

> 

c  .WttyiW^  i 


—  Uj  trote  conipirateurs  :  Hindtnburf.  l‘«ffi|Mrtur .■=»> 

Wtimra «t Lu4*nSorff renunlint is cirt* d'Ettwpt <tes  i  I--.  '  _ 

W  i«*#  t*r  nUtoifM  mot  nunjeto  »  win.  j  *j 

,<*'■ ""  Dowwew-A*  )7Ho*»*rt*^  Gtietw  rtp  l^tptig  ika=2rr;:r^^.T:!rr: 


i  XMSK*>V* 


Un  faux 

L’image  ci-contre  est  la  reproduction  exacte 
d'une  gravure  qui  se  trouve  dans  le  numero  1805 
des  «  Annales  »  (du  2/ janvier  1918).  Cette  gra¬ 
vure  portait  la  ligende:  «  Documents  de  T Illus¬ 
trated  Gazette  de  Leipzig*.  («iilustrated  Gazette*! 
un  mot  anglais  accole  a  un  mot  fran<;ais:  t'aute 
du  front  unique,  la  langue  unique  semble  en 
formation  !)  Nos  lecteurs  savent  mieux  quo  per- 
sonne  ce  qu’il  y  a  de  vrai  dans  ce  document, 
la  photographic  originale  de  la  scene  en  question 
ayant  ete  publite  en  tete  du  N"  28  de  la  •  Ga¬ 
zette  des  Ardennes ».  (Voir  ci-dessus,  a  droitc.) 
Sur  la  photographie  originale,  les  details  de  la 
carte  detat-major  etalte  sur  la  table  ne  sont 
nullement  reconnaissables.  A  cette  carte  d'itat- 
major,  les  faussaires  ont  subsfitue  une  carte  de 
1  ‘Europe  oil  les  territoires  occupis  par  les  Puis¬ 
sances  Centrales  sont  marques  en  noir  et  qui 
porte  les  noms  de  pays  en  anglais. 

11  s’agit  done  d'un  faux  caracterise  de  fabri¬ 
cation  anglaise  dans  le  but  de  rtpandre  dans  le 
monde  une  nouvelle  legende  haineuse  et  men- 
songere. 


Violation  intcntionnelle 
et  systematique  de  la  Neutralite 
hollandaise  par  les  Aviateurs  anglais 
Une  Preuve 

Les  deux  documents  reproduits  ici  ont  et* 
trouvis  dans  un  avion  anglais  r*cemment  abattu. 
11  s'agit  d’une  feuille  de  route  et  d'une  carte 
sur  laquelle  sont  marquis  les  trajets  k  suivre 
par  les  aviateurs  anglais  attaquant  la  contrie 
industrielle  allemande  Aix-la-Chapelle  et  Cologne. 

Les  deux  trajets  partent  dc  Dunkerque  et 
passent  sur  territoire  hollandais,  violant  ainsi 
volontairement  et  systimatiquement  la  neutrality 
des  Pays-Bas.  Le  trajet  sud  marque  le  chemin 
d’aller :  Dunkerque-Gand-Maestricht-Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle-Cologne.  Cette  ligne  coupe  le  territoire 
hoilandais  sur  un  parcours  de  2*  kilomitret. 
Le  trajet  nord  (fhemin  de  retour  i  Cologne* 


Uo  ••  %%  *4 

»u  eVk^-v-mn}  ri  ,  i\. 


■  r<'\ 

i 


Weert-nord  d’Anvers-sud  de  Hulst-nord  de  Bru- 
ges-Dunkerque)  traverse  meme  le  territoire  hol- 
landais  a  trois  endroits: 

1.  Roermond-Weert  a  savoir  44  km 

2.  Nord  de  Hulst  „  21  „ 

3.  Sud  de  Aardenburg  „  „  7  „ 

72~  km 

II  est  vrai  qu’un  troisieme  trajet  est  encore 
marque,  lequel  respecte  la  neutrality  hollandaise 
en  conduisant  de  Maastricht  par  Liige  k  Aix-la 
Chapelle.  Mais  tandis  que  les  deux  premier* 
trajets  sont  pourvus  dc  chiifres  marquant  les 
kilometres  et  les  temps  du  parcours,  ces  inoica- 
tlons  manquent  complement  pou\  ce  dernier 
trajet ;  ce  qui  demontre  k  1'evidence  que  ce  trui* 
slime  parcours  n'a  jamais  et*  serieusement  pris 
en  consideration. 

Les  documents  trouvis  prouvent  done  stricte* 
ment  que  les  aviateurs  anglais  ne  violent  pas  ia 
neutrality  hollandaise  par  madvertauce,  mais  bien 
avec  roythode  et  intention. 


THE  GAZETTE  DES  ARDENNES,  ILLUSTRATED  EDITION. 

A  Greatly  Reduced  Page  From  the  Paper  Published  in  French  by  the  Germans.  It  Has  a  Very  Large 

H 


Balloon  Circulation 


BOUTIN  BE  LA  GUERRA 


ROR  l_A  VERDAD 


Ed  It  ad*  par  la 


ftagistrsdo  cmmo  artlcule  d* 

2*  eiiia  al  22  4m  'Aosta  4m  1*14 


- -  HUB 

I  OFICINAS:  Mlaarloordla  7. 

AflO  V  1  Apartado56  bla  Mdalco,  D.  F. 

1  I  T«l4f«.  Crlo.  33)2  M«k.  72-23  Rojo 

Jueves  28 

do 

fVl  arzo  do  1818 

l|  Subscription  mcnaual.  . . $  2  00 

j  „  atrasado . .  0.20 

'Nuin.  1066 

- — — — — - - - ^ 

UNA  VEZ  MAS  FRANCIA  Ha  SI 


yiCTlMA  DEL  EGOISMO  INGLE 


Pans  esta  en  inminente  peligro  de  caer  a  manos  de  las  tropas  imperiales  que  dan  en  las 

inmediaciones  del  recinto  fortificado  recientemente  construido 


El  ejercito  ingles  huye  hacia  el  Norte  temiendo  ser  copado  por 
los  alemanes  que  estan  tratando  de  poner  cerco  a  la  Ciudad 
de  Amiens,  centro  de  retirada  del  tercer  ejdrcito  britdnico 


£No  habra  ya 
comunicacion 
con  Espana? 


Iranceses  ante  el  abandono  de  los  britdnicos,  do  pueden  oi  intentar 
contener  el  avance  imperial  sobre  la  Ciudad  Luz 


Cuanto  mas  les  pegan  a  los  alia¬ 
dos,  mas  necios  se  ponen 


Los  partes  oficiales  que  muy  tranquilamente  emite  el  ge- 
nerallsimo  Haig,  demuestran  una  vez  mAs  que  Francia  estA 
siendo  victima  del  egoismo  de  los  britAnicos. 

Segtin  las  rioticias  que  publics  la  propia  prensa  atia'- 
d6fila,  el  ejercito  ingles  ha  realizado  un  desesperado  esfuerzo 
para  contener  el  avance  alemAn  y  hasta  se  dice  que,  efimera- 
mente,  ha  logrado  contenerlo  en  la  regi6n  situada  al  oeste  y 
suroeste  de  la  ciudad  de  Albert. 

Cualquiera  que  tenga  un  mapa  y  sentido  oomtin,  com- 
prenderA  perfectamente  el  prop6sito  de  los  ingleses. 

La  parte  mAs  amenazada  del  frente  occidental,  no  es 
precisamente  el  oeste  de  Albert,  sino  el  norte  de  Paris,  en 
donde  los  alemanes  han  introducido  una  cufla  que  llega  a  las 
mismas  puertas  de  la  capital  francesa,  y  que  es  el  punto  por 
el  cual  los  imperiales  han  roto  en  dos  el  frente  de  los  aliados. 

Por  lo  tanto,  lo  mAs  natural  serla  que  los  ingleses  utiliza- 
3en  sus  esfuerzos  desesperados  mucho  mAs  al  sur  de  Albert, 
es  decir  en  Montdidier,  que  ya  estA  siendo  atacado  y  defen- 
dido  por  francoamericanos  y  por  restos  del  ala  derecha  bri- 
tAnica. 

Para  salvar  Paris 

Un  rudo  ataque  por  este  sector,  amenazarla  la  curia  ale- 
mana  que  va  a  Paris. 

El  flanco  derecho  de  la  cunk  aiemana  serla  obligado  a 
batirsemAs  al  este  sobre  Roye  y  tal  vez  hasta  Noyon,  yla  bre- 
cha  podria  ser  cerrada,  salvAndose  as!  el  ejercito  frances  de 
un  verdadero  y  colosal  fracaso,  aun  cuando  ello  implicase  la 
rotura  en  dos  del  frente  britAnico  y  perdida  de  consideracidn 
para  los  ingleses. 

Pero  de  todos  modes,  las  perdidas  inglesas  serlan  acaso 
la  salvacidn,  en  parte,  del  actual  frente  de  batalla  desde  Reims 
a  la  frontera  Suiza. 

Huida  hucia  el  norte 

Los  ingleses  no  quieren  saber  nada  de  esto. 

Los  ingleses  han  sido  derrotados,  y  se  preocupan  tan  s6- 
lo  de  salvar  al  ejArcito  que  es  suyo,  de  ^llos,  que  es  britAnico, 
teniendoles  muy  sin  cuidado  el  ejercito  franc6s,  Paris  y  toda 
Francia. 

Y  por  tal  raz6n,  ante  la  amenaza  de  que  los  alemanes 
llegasen  a  Amiens  por  el  este,  avanzando  como  avanzaban  ya 
cerca  de  Corbie,  y  con  ello  cortasen  la  retirada  a  una  parte 
de  las  fuerzas  inglesas  del  tercer  ejercito  que  afin  estAn  ba- 
tiAndose  en  retirada  hacia  el  norte  de  Amiens,  por  esto  em- 
prendieron  los  desesperados  ataques  al  oeste  de  Albert. 

El  gran  sacrificio  britkeico,  fue  para  Salvar  a  los  britA¬ 
nicos. 

A  los  franceses...  que  los  par^a  un  rayo. 

Una  vez  mAs  Francia  ha  sido  vlctima  del  egolsmo  de  los 
ingleses. 

Paris  en  peligro 

Claro  estA  que  abandonados  los  franceses  por  lo."  brit.i 
nicos,  no  pueden  resistir  el  empuje  teut6n,  no  s6!o  poftaha 
de  hombres,  sino  tambiAn  por  quedar  en  descubierto  t  d  t  el 
ala  izquierda  del  ejArcito  francAs,  desde  Soissons  al  ma. .  <<  ua 
en  una  distancia  tan  grande  que  no  hay  fuerzas  baataqtes  pa¬ 
ra  cubrirla  con  probabilidadei  de  reeiitencia  eficaz. 

Los  alemanes,  ante  esto,  han  Avanzado  muy  al  sur,  lie- 1 


gando  ya  a  las  inmediaciones  de  la  ciudad  de  Paris,  y  libran- 
do  encuentros  con  las  mismas  patrullas  que  rodean  los  fuertes 
de  la  capital  francesa. 

Mientras  los  ingleses  haven  hacia  el  norte,  los  franceses 
han  de  ceder  terreno  hacia  el  sur. 

Triste  fin  de  una  alianza  que  las  ^ambiciones  del  capita- 
lismo  frances  fraguA  y  que  ha  de  acarrear  a  P'rancia  tan  gra* 
ves  males  como  jamAs  pudo  ni  i  naginarse  siquiera  el  pueblo, 
seducido  por  la  idea  de  la  crevancha*. 


La  prensa  y  la  guerra 


Jamis  contienda  alguna  ha  da¬ 
do  tanto  trabajo  a  laa  prenaaa  m un¬ 
diales  como  el  actual  oouflloto  que 
asola  a  ambos  mundoa.  Bien  es 
verdad,  que  nunoa  eapeotAculo  tan 
inmenso  hablase  ofrecido  a  los  ojos 
de  la  hnmanidad. 

Es  la  aotual  una  contienda  Due. 
va,  completamente  original  en  los 
faotores  y  en  los  prooedimientos, 
Uegando  el  meditismo  guerrero 
hasta  el  pnnto  de  emplear  los  tbr- 
oulos  tipogrifiooB  como  uno  de  los 
mAa  eBcacea  medios  de  oorubate. 

El  euarto  poder,  la  palanca  mo 
derna,  la  voz  de  acero,  como  que- 
riifl  llamar  al  periodiamo  moderno, 
ha  moetrado  en  el  terreno  bAlico 
una  nneva  faceta  de  au  poder  in. 
meneo,  deoidiendo  la  actitud  de 
muohae  naciones  con  reapecto  a  la 
politick  internaoional. 

Desde  que  aurgid  el  oocflioto. 
europeo,  auu  laa  publicaoiones  m&a 
modestaa  de  todo  el  mundo  adop- 
taron  un  oriterio  de  parcialidad 
hacia  cualquiera  de  amboa  bandoe 
beligerantes,  e  hicieron  bandera  de 
lucha  de  eata  <filia>  o  de  aquells 
<fobia>.  Unoa  por  expontAnea  y 
gratuita  aimpatfa.  Otros,  loe  mAa, 
por  mercenariamo,  por  iuterAa. 

Eata  inainoeridad  en  la  mayor 
parte  de  la  prenaa,  eaca  entuaiaa- 
mos  a  tantoa  ddlarea  por  tinea, 


tantos  gazapoa  vertidoa  en  la  re¬ 
vista  y  en  el  libro,  por  elementoa 
desaprensivoa  qne  deshonran  la  pln- 
ma,  serAn  motivo  en  el  porvenir 
de  que  al  juzgarse  con  verdadero 
sentido  de  justicia  la  oansa  de  la 
presents  heoatombe,  el  honrado 
hlstoriador  se  vea  envuelto  en  un 
laberinto  de  confueionea,  de  iaco. 
bereociaa  y  de  absurdoe. 

Claro  ee,  que  al  hablar  dffla  pren. 
sa  mala,  de  este  periodismo  soez  y 
vendido  que  avergilenza  a  las  oon. 
oiencias  honradas,  nos  referimos 
exclnsirameote  a  las  pnblioaciones 
quesedeben  al  dinero  aliado,  a 
las  oasas  editoriales  dependientes 
de  Franco-aDglo-Yanquilandia,  a 
los  plumlferos.  sin  oorazdn  y  sin 
dignidad  profesional,  ouyas  plu- 
mas  estAn  a  meroed  dsl  tirano  que 
paga.  |  Esplritus  rastreros,  guifia- 
pos  de  espiritu ! 

A  nuestro  juioio,  uno  de  los  mAs 
oapitales  errores  cometidos  por  la 
Entente,  una  de  las  principales 
oausas  determinaotes  de  su  des- 
prsstigio  y  su  zraoaso  ante  la  opi¬ 
nion  universal,  ha  sido  la  torpeza 
en  extra viar  a  las  demAs  oaciones, 
mintiendole  triuntoe  y  avances  des¬ 
de  los  periddicos  y  libros  de  su 
resort®,  para  al  (In,  quedar  al  des- 
nudo  de  cuerj»  enteru,  mostrando 

iimi  m  la  •».  pun.) 


SEMANA  SANTA 

COB  motivo  Ao  la  mleatallal  lot  41a,  »  oparocor* 
noostra  pobllcaclAa,  salvo  ma  <1  MU  It  qms,  aotldas  lo  soimo  Ja 
portaacla,  oawritaaoB  la  rakltOBslto  la  aaa  allolOa  oxiraorliaaria. 


Dirfase  que  los  aliados  se  proponen  disponer  el  Animo  del 
mundo  de  tal  modo,  que  a  la  hora  de  las'  exigencias  del  ven- 
cedor,  el  mundo  entero  celebre  las  condiciones  de  paz  que  los 
imperiales  impongan,  per  muy.duras  que  scan. 

Cuanto  mAs  les  pegan  a  los  aliados,  mAs  necios  se  ponen. 

Ahora  se  han  empefiado  en  que  no  exisra  comunicacidn 
entre  Mexico  y  Espana  y  estAn  haciendo  lo  posible  para  que 
las  naves  hispanas  no  puedan  llegar  a  nuestros  puertos,  ne- 
gAndoles  el  carbdn  necesario  para  la  travesia. 

Aseguran  los  mensajes  que  el  ultimo  vapor  espanol  que 
lleg6  a  la  Habana  no  podrA  seguir  el  viaje  por  carecer  de 
combustible.  •  - 

Esta  conducta  ridicula  de  los  montoneros  que  molestan 
a  los  pueblos  paclficos  ante  la  impotencia  de  veneer  a  los  po- 
derosos  enemigos  que  ellos  mismos  se  crearon,  es  de  las  mAs 
cursis. 

Vayan  los  pueblos  del  mont6n  incivilizado  sembrando 
odios. 

Ya  veremos  cuAl  serA  la  cosecha. 

No  han  de  olvidar  Wilson  y  comparsa  que  en  Vich  tia- 
ci6,  allA  por  el  ano  de  1808,  un  refrAn  que  decla:  «a  cada  puer- 
co  le  llega  su  San  Martin*. 


POR  SI  ACASO 

La  labor  de  los  sumergibles  se  ha 
intensificado  a  la  par  con  la 
de  los  ejercltos  de  tierra 


sastrosa*  para  los  ingleses. 

La  soba  que  les  dieron  por  tierra  los  alemanes  fu6  mAs 
que  formidable. 

Porque  hay  que  tener  en  cuenta  que  a  nosotros  nos  be¬ 
gan  las  noticias  con  cuentagotas,  ya  que  segiin  un  parte  ofi- 
cial  alemAn,  las  ciudades  de  Albert,  Lihons,  Roye  v  NoyOn 
fueron  tomadas  AL  TERCER. DIA  DE  OFENSIVA,  es  de¬ 
cir,  el  dla  23,  sAbado,  y  no  llegaron  hasta  nosotros  sino  el  dla 
27,  y.  .conmuchas  reservas  y  comentarios  estramboticos. 

Pero  por  si  eso  fuese  poco,  tambien  la  zurra  submarina 
fue  de  las  que  hacen  epoca. 

En  efecto,  segun  confesi6n  del  Almirantazgo  britAnico 
yEINTINUEVE  BARCOS  ingleses,  solamente  ingleses,’ 
fueron  hundidos  en  la  referida  semana  por  los  sumergibleS 
alemanes. 

De  esos  veintmueve  barcos,  diez  y  seis  eran  mayores  de 
mil  seiscientas  toneladas,  doce  menores,  y  otro  era  pesquero 
o  sea,  guardacostas  al  servicio  del  Almirantazgo. 

Los  alemanes  no  se  conforman  con  zurrarles  la  badana 
a  las  tropas  de  Haig  y,  por  si  acaso,  les  zurran  tambien  de 
lo  Irndo  a  los  ingleses  en  sus  meritos  dominios:  en  el  mar 

Con  tres  o  cuatro  semanitas  de  dstas,  la  guerra  se  acaba 
con  la  «grande  victoire*  de _ los  imperiales. 

El  "Boletln  de  la  Cuerra"  tale  10  centavos 


A  PRO-GERMAN  PAPER  PUBLISHED  IN  MEXICO. 

(Note  the  lines  “For  truth — boycotted  by  the  Administration  of  Yankeeland,”  and  the 
reference  to  France  as  the  “Victim  af  English  Selfishness.”) 

I 


BAJO  LA  ZARPA  BRITANICA 


'ALE MANIA  \*»to*,A\ 


■faAUSTRIA^ 
huTn’gria  ^ 


ftiWnRa 


0*1  hi# 


•COLOMBIA 


'  %AFRICA| 
,'ORlfcNTAL.  J 
nmhHiCAy 


ORIENTAL ' 


THE  WORLD  ENCHAINED  BY  THE  BRITISH. 
A  Pro-German  Spanish  Poster  (Greatly  Reduced). 


#  • 


CO 


UJ 


LkJ 


hr 


UJ 


UJ  o 

mss 

Ql 


co 


Ql 


CD 


o 


“WHICH  ARE  THE  BARBARIANS  ?” 

A  Pro-German  Poster  (Greatly  Reduced)  In  Spanish. 


IOunaDu’9 


r/<«rn}>b«^ 


IA  PLAZA  DEL  MERCADO  DB  CZERNOWITZ 
Las  Potencias  Centrales  han  conquistado  desde  el  12  Diciembre 

de  1916  en  el  f rente  Sur-Este  -  25,850  Kms.  cuadrados 


VIST*  PARCIAL  DE  RIGA 

Las  Potencies  Centrales  han  conquistado  desde  el  12  Diciembre 

da  1916  err  el  (rente  Nor-Este  -  6.700  Kms.  cuadrados 


CzornowK* 


.OuMIiol 


C3  Tarritcrio  conquistado  por  las  potancias  centrales  tiasta  el  12  Diciembre  1916 
■■  Territorio  conquistado  por  las  potencias  centrales  despues  del  12  Diciembre  1916 


CALLS  PRIKCIPAL  RK  TARR0P0L 
Las  Potencias  Centrales  han  conquistado  desde  el  12  Oioiemdra 

de  1916  en  el  (rente  Sur-Este  -  25,850  KfflS.  CUadfadOS 


PLAZA  DEL  MERCADO  DB  ODIRE 
La*  potencias  Centrales  han  conquistado  desde  el  12  diciembre 

da  1916  en  italia  -  14,500  Kms.  cuadrados 


El  dfa  12  de  Diciembre  de  1916 

hicieron  las  Potencias  Centrales  un 

Ofrecimiento  de  Paz 

I.u  Entente  lo  reehazb  eon  deaden.  Inutil- 
monte  intents  la  Entente,  durante  lodo 
ol  ailo,  con  offensives  planeadas  en  "ran 
escala,  quebratnar  el  poder  militar  de 
las  Potencias  Centrales,  qtte  por  ello  se 
vieron  oblijadas  a  pastir  a  la  ol'ensiva. 
Conquistaron  Ualitzia  v  la  Bucovina, 
Rifta  y  la  desemboeadura  del  Duena. 
las  isles  Oesel*  v  l)a"o,  o  infligieron  a 
Italia  la  mayor  dcrrota  experimentiida 
en  esta  guerra,  ocnpando  la  mayor  parte 
do  la  ilanura  veneciana. 


El  dfa  12  de  Diciembre  de  1917 
habfa  perdido  la  Entente  a  consecuencia 
de  Haber  rechazado  el  Ofrecimiento  de 
Paz  de  las  Potencias  Centrales: 

Terrilorio  47,oso 

Prisioneros  ....  425.000 

Canones  3,957 

Aeroplanos  .  2618 

Globes  cauli vos.  230 

Buques  mercanles  hundidos.  9.000,000  tons. 

Buques  de  guerra  hundidos .  208,000  » 

sin  contar  otro  material  do  guerru,  euyo  valor 
no  es  calculable. 

Un  afiodespucsdeliaberserecho/.ado  eJ  ofrecimien¬ 
to  de  pa/,  se  ha  inclinado  por -complete  la  balanza 
de  la  guerra  en  favor  de  las  Potencias  centrales. 


jjS_P0THms  CENTRALES  HAN  CAPTDRADQ  DESDE  EL  12  DE  DICIEMBRE  PS  1316 


2.618  aviones,  con  un  valor  medio  de  75,000  marcos  cada  uno 
230  globes  cautivos,  con  un  valor  medio  de  18,000  marcos  ci 

PEROIDA  TOTAL:  199.490,000  MARCOS 


Us  Potenelai  ceotrales  tmndlero*  ea  las  zonas  as  guerra  desde 

si  tz  Diciembre  ne  i9te  -  9.000,000  de  toneladas 


Lit  Potencias  Ceatralai  bunaieroo  desde  cl  12  Diciembre  de  1916 
cn  baqnes  4c  jucm  inemljos  -  208,000  tOIieladaS 


Las  Potencias  Cietrelec  cap'nnron  diene  el  12  de  Diciembre  ni  1918  —  3,957  CadOH6S 


lldlliao 


France*  ds  color 


Americano  bianco 


Frances  bianco 


ONSECUENOAS  DE  HABERSE 
RECHAZADO  LA  PAZ  OERECIDA 
POR  ALEMANIA  Y  SDS  ALIADOS 


“CONSEQUENCES  OF  HAVING  REFUSED  THE  PEACE  OFFERED  BY  GERMANY.’ 
A  Pro-German  Poster  in  Spanish  (Greatly  Reduced) 

L 


PRO-ALLY  SPANISH  PROPAGANDA. 

A  Poster  (Greatly  Reduced)  Showing  the  Gradual  Disappearance  of  Spanish  Shipping 

M 


KL  ALEMAN.— .Si  rehusais  mi  leal  mano 
de  paz,  no  olvideis  cpte  en  la  otra  tengo  una 
fuerte  espada. 


Precio:  2  0  CTS. 


THE  KAISER  AS  AN  ANGEL  OF  PEACE. 

“If  You  Reject  My  Loyal  Hand  of  Peace,  Don’t  Forget  That  in  the  Other  Hand  I  Hold  a  Sharp  Sword.’’ 

(From  the  Pro-German  Spanish  Weekly,  “Don  Quijote.”) 

N 


a’  ORLtftNS 


Lloyd  (^EOHQE- 


SONNINO 


BOflAPAftTt 


[  f  RftNCIft~| 


9%?=*  100 


. 


“THE  LAST  HOPE.” 

A  Double  Page  Cartoon  From  the  Pro-German  Spanish  Weekly  “Don  Quijote,”  Showing  America  Trying  to  Resuscitate  France  With  Hope,  Lies 
■" " J"  '  O 


Bluffs  and  Promises. 


V 


mm 


; 


•,&v&  ^ 


VICTOWW 

ftlEMANAS 

RUMANIA, 

RUSJft 

ITALIA 


«g|  JSSsiS 

'Vr  - 

I'  i M.rf 
f  .■■■'>'.  - 

IV 

J\P‘ 

1917 

;Guerra  v  mue'*te  a  los  alemanesHI. 


1018 

Atno  Alemania  quo  va  a  la  cabeza  de 
la  civilizaciAn... 


I  I 


1919 

I  !  !  I  I 


!  ‘I  I 


’^ts* 


\ 


m 


THE  COME-DOWN  OF  THE  YANKEE. 

A  Page  From  the  Pro-German  Spanish  Weekly  “Don  Quijote Showing  the  Complete  Humiliation  of  the  Bluffing  America. 

P 


DATE  DUE 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  023  23389  3 


